Life Changing Letters
by His Lil' Half-Blood Princess
Summary: Gryffindors and Slytherins are assigned to write pen pal letters to each other. But meanwhile, a determined Severus Snape decides to win Lily's heart back- and he tells his pen pal all about it. COMPLETE!
1. Severus's Start

Yawn. It's late Friday nite. Yawn. Nothing to do except write fluff. Yawn. So I ought to write fluff. Yawn. This is dedicated to a story I read a million years ago, but can no longer find. It was a great story. Yawn. This is a really confusing story, so I'd pay attention. Yawn.

Do I look like JKR to you? No, so there. I don't own HP, (no matter how much I wish I did). Only JKR and WB own it. Read and Review. Enjoy, if you can. YAWN!!!!!

_Memo_

_To: Gryffindor and Slytherin 7__th__ years_

_From: Professors McGonagall and Slughorn_

_Re: House Project_

_It has come to our present attention that the tension between the two houses, especially in your year, has become to great. We are assigning a project to help fix this problem. You will, anonymously, be paired up with someone in your opposite house and will write letters to each other. This is also known as pen pals. Gryffindors, you will send your letters out on Sunday, so be ready by then._

Lily stared at the letter. "James, what have you been doing?"

James sat beside his girlfriend, "What do you mean?" His eyes widened. "That wasn't my fault! It was Sn- oh, wait, you didn't hear?" he asked at her expression. "Oh, well, I didn't do anything." Lily handed him the memo and he read it over. "GAWD! _Pen pals?"_

* * *

_Dear Slytherin,_

_ I don't know who you are, but I ought to tell you about . . . oh, wait; this is supposed to be anonymous, right? How stupid! We can't speak of anything, can we? Well, I have to have the letter by Sunday, so here it is? _

_Gryffindor_

Lily handed her letter to McGonagall.

* * *

The pen pal system had been going on for a month now. Snape, Mulciber, and Avery were walking down the corridor to the Great Hall, speaking of the subject.

"My pen pal friend, she's a girl, she said I write like I'm a three year old. That's stupid! Three year olds can't write!" said Mulciber. Avery rolled his eyes.

"Mulciber, that's a figure of speech." He said. "Besides, I got a bloke, and he thinks I'm actually good conversation!"

"You aren't a conversation, you're a person!" Mulciber said.

"Mulciber, you are the most idiotic, piece of-"

"Can we stop talking about this? It's dull enough to do it every week!" Snape sneered at them. Mulciber gave a creepy grin.

"What, Snape? Met a girl you fancy?"

"Fancy? For your information, you idiot, this girl is the lamest human being on the planet. She talks of classes and is too scared to say anything else in fear of being 'discovered' by myself. It is extremely tedious." He sighed as they turned the corner. That's when he saw her, alone, in the front yard. "I'll . . . er . . .. Be right back." He left his group and walked over to her.

She turned around, and when she saw him, she turned to walk off, when he said, "I need your help!"

"I doubt I am of enough importance and intelligence to help you."

He needed her to stay. "You are! I need help from the Head Girl, not just you!"

"Go find the Head Boy!"

"He can't tolerate me!"

"Neither can I!"

"But I can! I can't tolerate him either, but I can tolerate you!"

"Go away!"

"I need your help, and if you don't give it to me, I'll tell Dumbledore."

Lily turned around to face him. He stared at him, his face a bit red, but his eyes glimmering, and his face expressionless. "What do you want?"

"I . . . " He needed a good lie, a really good lie. "I saw Peeves torturing a student."

Lily was awake now. "Really?" Then she raised an eyebrow. "Why do you care?"

"Fellow Slytherin." He said.

"Where?"

"I can't remember exactly where. I can show you."

Lily raised her eyebrow again. "I know what you're doing, but, for the sake of my job, I'll go with you." The two of them walked against the current of students going toward the Great Hall.

He looked at her as they walked. "So . . . you like the pen pal thing?"

She shook her head. "It's lame. My partner, he says I'm boring."

"My partner is boring."

"There's nothing to say!" she said. "Because I don't know him!" She looked at him. "Just like this. There's nothing to say. I don't know you."

"Yes, you do!" he insisted.

"No, I don't. I thought I did, but I was wrong. You're different. I don't know you."

"Then I guess I don't know you either." He said miserably.

"You're right."

There was a dirty silence. Then he turned toward his friend, or, the girl he didn't know. "Hello," he said. "I'm Severus Snape. What's your name?"

She blushed. "I didn't mean it in that way, but-" She picked up his hand and shook it. "I'm Lily Evans." They continued to walk. "I'm Head Girl, I live with my parents and my sister and I want to be an Auror when I grow up. Tell me about you, in exactly that format. Your present position, who you live with and what you want to be when you grow up."

He couldn't tell her his real present position; A Death Eater, and what he wanted to be when eh grew up; a Death Eater in the Dark Lord's favor. But, fortunately, he had solutions. "I'm a nobody. I live with my parents and I want to be a Gringotts worker when I grow up."

"Really?" she asked, actual curiosity in her voice. "I didn't know that."

"Obviously, since we just met."

They continued to walk, until she said, "OK, where's Peeves?"

Snape turned to her. "I . . . Lily, I . . ."

But fortunately Mulciber came running down the hall being chased by Peeves, who, recently, was being chased by Lily.

He watched her go, happy they talked, avoiding the Death Eater factor. He walked down to the common room, deciding he was going to write this in the next letter.

* * *

_Gryffindor,_

_ I talked to my friend for the first time today._

_Slytherin_

_Dear Slytherin, _

_ I met someone new._

_ - Gryffindor_

_Gryffindor,_

_ I think I did too._

_Slytherin_

Next chapter comin' soon. It's fluff, I say, fluff! BYE!!


	2. A Basic Conversation

**A/N: This is just a series of letters before stuff starts happening. Enjoy!!!**

_Dear Slytherin,_

_ Today I had Charms and we practiced . . . . Can't tell you, it might give me away. Anyway, then we went to the Great Hall for lunch and I ate . . . can't tell you that either. Hope you're week was great!_

_ - Gryffindor_

_Gryffindor, _

_ Oh, yes, well I had Potions at 1:00 and we made some draught I've already perfected then I ate soup for lunch and then I went to the lake with my friends and we threw rocks at first years._

_ - Slytherin_

_Dear Slytherin,_

_ DO NOT TELL ME THAT MUCH INFO AGAIN OR I WILL REPORT YOU TO THE HEADMASTER!!!!_

_ -Gryffindor_

_Gryffindor,_

_ How can you report me if you don't know me?_

_ - Slytherin_

_Dear Slytherin,_

_ He knows who you are._

_ - Gryffindor_

_Gryffindor,_

_ We had a conversation on meeting people and then you went back to our boring routine. You're too predictable._

_ - Slytherin_

_Dear Slytherin,_

_ Very well, we both met somebody new. Tell me your story._

_ - Gryffindor_

_Gryffindor,_

_ I did a terrible thing and my friend hates me. _

_ - Slytherin_

**A/N: This is gonna get better, you'll see! TTYL and let's hope for an update soon. Thanks to all my Reviewers!!!**


	3. Cissy's Message

**A/N: I am soooooooo sorry I haven't posted! I promised I'd do it on Easter, right? Well, I got lazy and there was this whole scandal at school, like everybody's AIM got hacked and *gulps* I know I'm next!!! AAAAAHHHH!!!!! Anyway, sorry this is short, but hey, you wanted a chapter? Review plz!!!**

"I hate this pen pal thing! I mean, I am seriously going to report whoever that Slytherin is to the Headmaster! Doesn't he know we can't know who are pen pal is?"

Mary sighed as Lily raged in front of her. They were in the girls' dormitories in Gryffindor Tower, and Lily had been pacing and shouting about all her pen pal problem for the past fifteen minutes. Mary was the type of person who didn't like to be rude or interrupt, so she let Lily scream her lungs off, and while she did, Mary sat quietly. Lily was now panting, so Mary took advantage.

"Lily, this is an assignment, not your life. If this is seriously bothering you, just go to Dumbledore." She said calmly. "He must be used to the complaints by now. Slytherins and Gryffindors, they weren't meant to be friends. You, unfortunately, learned that the hard way." She was referring to the Mudblood incident.

"Oh, Mary, don't be naïve! If he's used to the complaints, I don't want to bother him with my worries!"

"Didn't you just say you were gonna turn this Slytherin in?"

"I changed my mind!" Lily snapped. "I'm going for a walk!" She snatched up her wand and her bag and stalked out of the room.

That was all she remembered . . .

* * *

"Severus!"

Severus turned around in surprise when he heard his name. Girls _never _shouted after him. Praying it might be Lily, he looked through the crowds, not to find the fiery red hair of Lily Evans, but the blonde of Narcissa Black.

"Hello Narcissa," he said in a conversational tone. "May I know why you're screaming for me?"

"Oh, well . . ." she blushed. "I'm sorry, this probably even isn't worth it anyway, I shouldn't have . . . but, well, everybody's talking about it." She took a strand of hair and began to twirl it around her finger. Nobody knew this, but she, secretly, very deep down, liked Snape. Her marriage had been arranged with Lucius already, so she knew there was no hope of dating. She found this unfair, but, her mother, father and Bellatrix, her _only _sister had done it as well, so she coped. It was pureblood tradition. And Severus Snape wasn't a pureblood, he was a half-blood. Snape raised an eyebrow.

"What? James Potter _killed _somebody?" he asked, hoping for the hopeless.

"No! He's too good to do that! No, it happened on the seventh floor." She noticed how that didn't make sense, and she blushed again. Snape sighed, exasperated.

"What happened?" he said. "Narcissa, honestly, when are you planning to tell me?"

"Well, you know that third year Hufflepuff, Fiona Smith?" she asked him. He nodded, thinking about the annoying Fiona, with those disgusting pigtails that swung around her face, and that smile . . . if you could call it a smile. "Well, she was playing Muggle tag with her friends on the seventh floor, near a window."

"Tag? Isn't that a game eight year old Muggles play?" he said.

"You would know better than I," she said with a sigh. "You live in a Muggle town, I don't. I have no idea what Muggle children play, all I know is that they jump rope and ride icicles or something of that manner . . ." Snape smirked.

"OK, so Hufflepuffs were playing tag, what else?"

"OK, so James Potter . . . yes, I forgot, he is involved, scared them out of their wits and they start getting chased by him and Black. Now think, three fat Hufflepuff girls, being chased by Potter and Black- not good. So who would come down the hall, but Potter's Mudblood girlfriend Lily Evans-" Snape shuddered at Lily being called Mudblood. "- And she catches her boyfriend terrorizing Hufflepuffs! So she goes off on him and takes House points and all the other stupid things Mudbloods-" He flinched. –Do."

"Is this story nearing it's end?' he asked, bored. This wasn't good school news, this was girl gossip and he wasn't going to tolerate it much longer. Narcissa blushed again.

"Yes, but listen! So Peeves comes and starts teasing the Hufflepuffs, calling them fat and they begin to cry, so Evans yells at Peeves and comforts the girls. Then, Peeves knocked over a torch from the wall, and it falls to the floor. So of course, the hall is on fire. Remember the window in the hall? How I said there was a window?" He nodded lamely. "Well, it was one of the large ones and it was open. Well, everyone's freaking out because the hall's on fire, and the only two who think they can extinguish it are Potter and Evans. So Potter makes his move, but he bumps into somebody, and he drops his wand and the water began to spurt out. Everybody's in this mess because everybody's running around and there's water spurting out from the floor and the fire is getting larger and in all this confusion, somebody _actually _got pushed out the window!"

Now Snape was paying attention. Was it Potter? Black? Somebody else he hated? He hoped it was. Then they'd feel pain, and he would love if they felt pain! "Who was it, Cissy?"

"Lily Evans."

A/N: I'm gonna stop it there, but don't call me mean. I can't think of anything else, and you DID want this chapter up, remember? I'll update soon, I hope. I know this sounds nerdy, but everybody, EXAMS ARE COMING UP!!!! Yes people, they are in a month or two. And of course, end of year projects, the crappy package. Sigh. Anyway, review plz!


	4. The Surprise

**A/N: I am probably the most sorry person on earth for keeping you waiting with this update so long! I've had NO ideas for either this story or Lily's Prisoner. Finally, I decided to sit down and not get up until I had at least half a chapter done for this story. And look! I updated! **

**Thanks to matrice for the awesome reviews!**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of it's trademarks. It belongs to JKR and WB.**_

**ENJOY!**

"Potter, I _CAN_not be_LIEVE_ you did this!"

"Professor, I didn't mean to have her pushed out the window, I was just-"

"Having a little fun. I hear the same excuse from you and Black every time somebody becomes severely injured at this school because of your fun! Right now, Lily Evans is in the Hospital Wing, unconscious. _She could have died!_ You both are going to serve detention, everyday, for the rest of the year!"

"EVERYDAY!"

"Yes, Black, everyday. And don't you dare give me that face! I will be contacting your guardians about this. Any complaints and we'll make it two a day. That's what I thought. You boys are _extremely _lucky Professor Dumbledore was able to prevent you from getting you into trouble with the Ministry! How would you like to be sitting in Azkaban right now?"

"We wouldn't like that at all."

"Of course not, Potter. Professor Sprout is also furious with you! If you hadn't starting picking on Hufflepuffs, we wouldn't be in this mess! 150 points from Gryffindor from each of you!"

"NO!"

"What did you say Black? Do I hear a complaint? I do believe Professor Slughorn could use some help as well a myself tonight . . ."

"I didn't say anything!"

"That's what I thought. You two are in so much trouble now, especially you Black. This isn't the first time somebody's life was almost lost by your actions!"

"But the prank on Sniv- Snape was just a joke-"

"Or a plot to murder. I don't want to hear another word. Both of you are to go to your dormitories and stay there until meals. If I hear from _anybody _that you come out beforehand, let's just say, Professor Flitwick is also in need of help. You may go."

James Potter and Sirius Black both sighed in unison. They stood up and exited the office of Minerva McGonagall without another word.

Sometimes, Severus hated the way his mind worked. He hated that he could be both happy and sad that Lily had fallen out a window. He was sad, of course, because Lily had fallen out of a window! He hated it when she was hurt or in pain. That was his job, to feel pain, because he was so used to it. But he was happy because since it was Potter's fault she had fallen, she wouldn't forgive him and they would cease dating and would never marry. It also gave Snape the opportunity to maybe become her friend again. Maybe not as close as before, not best friends, but just friends the same. It would mean the world to him.

He was sitting on his bed in his dormitory. It was a Sunday evening and Lily had been in the Hospital Wing for a few days now. He was trying to decide whether to visit her or not, since she was no longer considered him her friend, but her enemy and he felt he had no right to see her. But he cared about her deeply and how else was he to show he cared if he didn't show up to visit? He sighed and lied down.

Avery walked over to him. "Hey, did you get a pen pal letter today?" he asked him, curiosity in his tone. Severus sat up again.

"No. Did you?"

"Well, yeah." he said. "I was just wondering, since I didn't see you at breakfast and I didn't see a letter for you on the table. I thought maybe you had gotten it from somebody else."

"No, I didn't get my letter. Actually, I'm fairly pleased about that, though. I have no desire to receive any more of the world's most pointless letters."

Avery smiled. "Lucky you." Then he walked over to his side of the dorm.

Snape wondered for a moment why he didn't get a letter. That Gryffindor seemed very much into school work and too scared to break rules or miss an assignment. He hadn't a clue why she forgot to write. _Oh well, _he said. _People have forgotten me in the past; It isn't too big of a deal._

Snape stood up. He walked towards the dormitory door, when Mulciber said. "Snape, where you going?"

Snape turned to look at him. "Just for a walk. I'll be back in a hour or so."

"You better get back before nine," said Avery warningly. "You don't want Filch getting you into detention like he did to Rockwood yesterday."

"I will," he said and he swept from the room.

He wandered through the nearly empty corridors, going up different stairwells. He wondered whether this was a good idea or not, whether he should just turn around or not. Then he remembered, that before that fateful day, she had always been there for him when he was sick or hurt or sad. Even though she wanted nothing to do with him now, he had a debt to pay to her. He nodded to himself and walked down the corridor and stopped in front of the Hospital Wing.

He took a deep breath and walked into the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey swept up to him. "How may I help you?"

"Um . . . I wanted to know, if it'd be possible, for me to visit . . . Lily Evans." he said, quietly. Madame Pomfrey raised an eyebrow.

"You're a Slytherin, aren't you Mr. Snape?" she said, nodding at his tie, which was the Slytherin colors. She ought to know anyway, because on many occasions Snape had been in the Hospital Wing because of the doings of Potter. Sometimes, however, it was vice-versa.

"Yes." he replied.

"And what year are you in?"

"Seventh."

"Really?" she asked, wishing she could take it back. It wasn't that he seemed younger, he was just so skinny, he didn't look like a seventh year, maybe a six, or even an older fifth. "Well, Mr. Snape, Miss Evans is limited to one or two visitors at a time and they must be either family or close friends, not silly boys who have a crush on her. So, in what way are you related to Lily Evans?"

"Well, I'm her best friend!"

"Really?" she asked, fascination at the fact a Slytherin and a Gryffindor could be best friends.

"Yes. Well, we _were _friends." he added quietly to himself. She didn't hear him. "But she doesn't like to talk about us being best friends, you know. She doesn't like it when people say we're dating, because we're not." He hoped Madame Pomfrey wouldn't bring it up with Lily that he was Lily's best friend.

Madame Pomfrey smiled. "I won't say a word to her, I promise you, boy. Now. you may stay for fifteen minutes, but then you have to go. She may be unconscious, but she needs rest and quiet." He nodded. "Very well, go on in. I'll be in my office if you need anything."

"Thank you," he said, walking into the room where Lily lay.

She was lying still on the bed, the white sheets covering her body up to below her shoulders. Her arms were on top of the bundle of white. There were cuts and scratches covering her arms and face and there was a huge scar by her left eye, a diagonal line right above it. She looked still and cold and almost dead, but there was soft breathing. And even though she was broken and bruised, she still looked beautiful. Her hair looked the nicest shade of red, her face seemed peaceful, and Snape bet that if her eyes were open, they would be sparkling.

"Hi Lily" he whispered. There was a silence. It was hard to speak with somebody who wasn't going to respond. "Er . . . I know you probably wouldn't care if I was here. In fact, if you were awake, you'd throw me out. But I care too much about you, how could I not come to see you? But, er, anyway, I'm here now."

Lily stirred.

He stared at her, wondering if she did that often.

He looked at the clock. He had ten minutes left to visit her.

"I can't stay long," he began again. "Only for fifteen minutes. But I promise, I'll come tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day until you wake up and tell me not to come back, because I know you will." Then he paused. "Not that I think you're evil to do so, nor am I saying you're a rejecting person! I'm only reasoning that because you are extremely angry with me at the moment, and that you said you never want to see me again, even after our conversation a few weeks back, you wouldn't want me here."

She stirred again.

He continued to watch her. It didn't matter that she couldn't speak, or that she was unconscious, or that he had nothing to say. Just being near her made him feel wonderful. He didn't think that his obsession over her was an obsession or a crush or a fancy even. It was a feeling. Was it love? he didn't know. He had never been given love, only friendship, from Lily. So how could he give love if he never received it? How could he think his intentions towards Lily were out of love if he'd never felt it? It made him confused and even a little afraid. Love was like a mysterious thing he didn't know of. And it wasn't something he could just look up in a library book. Was love a fancy or a feeling? He didn't know.

Five minutes left . . .

"When you get better, do you think maybe we could do something? It doesn't have to be something big if you don't it do be. Just something. Anything." Nothing. He felt stupid thinking she would reply. She was, after all, unconscious. "We could go to Hogsmeade and I'd pay for the drinks and everything." _I just have to get money first, _he thought. "It doesn't have to be that, though. It could be . . . well, anything."

Two minutes . . .

He sighed and stood up, knowing he would be leaving in a minute. "Well, I'll come back tomorrow. It was nice to see you, even if you won't remember." He fixed her blanket and decided, that since there was only a minute left, he ought to go.

He knocked on Madame Pomfrey's office door. She opened it. "Yes?"

"I was just wondering, Madame Pomfrey, does she stir often?"

She gave him a look of surprise. "No, I don't think she has stirred much at all. Why?"

"She stirred a lot when I was visiting."

"Did she?" she said, thinking. He hoped stirring was a good thing. She smiled and said. "Well, that means she's probably waking up. Slowly, but yes, this is a sign she'll be waking up sooner than we think."

Snape gave a sigh of relief and a small smile. "I just wanted to know." he said and Madame Pomfrey nodded and walked into the room where Lily was Snape. Snape walked out the Hospital Wing and back to the common room, avoiding Peeves, and not telling a single person of his visit.

Snape visited everyday at the exact same time. He liked it because he could see Lily. Madame Pomfrey liked it because every time he visited, Lily showed more and more signs of waking up. Nobody was there when he visited and he was glad of that because he liked being alone with her, even though she didn't know he was there and even though Madame Pomfrey was just a room away. It was interesting to watch how she would slowly show signs of awaking, like rolling around and groaning and opening her eyes. But when she opened her eyes, they didn't look like they could see. They were just staring, not seeing. They seemed strange to him, even though they were the same color and the same shape, but they were somehow different than the eyes he knew and liked very much (not that he didn't like them now!).

But he was always afraid somebody would find out he was visiting her. If it was a Slytherin, they would ask him why he was bothering to visit a Mudblood and they would mock him and he didn't need that. If it was a Gryffindor, a Ravenclaw, or a Hufflepuff, word would get to Potter and he would mock him. If word got to a professor, they would tell Madame Pomfrey that he wasn't Lily's best friend and he would have to cease in visiting her. It wasn't that he was ashamed of her. It was the exact opposite.

He was ten minutes into a visit, a very unusual visit. For the first time, Lily had shown no sign of waking up. He didn't know why and he wasn't very worried, but he was just disappointed that she seemed to be unusually still. He hadn't said anything the whole visit and he didn't want to. There was nothing to say today. Nothing to tell.

It was then something dawned on him. He was actually alone with Lily. She was asleep. And they were alone. It was something he had fantasied about many times, him alone with Lily, watching her asleep. He hadn't remembered about those fantasies until now. He had to admit, she looked very nice asleep.

Three minutes left to visit. He was staring at her, wondering if he should do it, if he could do, if he was brave enough to do it. He doubted it. But he wanted to do it, so badly, it wasn't even funny. But he didn't want to mess up and he didn't want any interruptions when he did it. _I'll do it next time, _he thought. But he knew that next time, he'd put it off again. It was now or never.

Two minutes left. He stood up, breathing heavily. He was afraid she would wake up while he did it or that Madame Pomfrey would bust in on them. He didn't know what the reaction would be from Lily, either anger or surprise. But he knew Madame Pomfrey would be furious with him. He didn't want to be banned from visiting. But he didn't want to miss out on this chance.

One minute left and Lily hadn't moved the whole visit. This was the ideal time to do it. What if the next visit, she'd be awake or stirring? That would ruin everything. He had to do it today, within the very minute. Either he did it now or he didn't do it at all.

Thirty seconds . . . He was leaning down next to her, kneeling on the floor.

Twenty seconds . . . He put his hands on the bed, breathing fast.

Ten seconds . . . He nodded his head as if to approve himself.

He leaned down next to her and kissed her, long and soft.

It was like being in the clouds, living the dream he dreamt all the time. It was magical and perfect. It was just like how he imagine it, well, except she was awake and they were standing. He couldn't believe he was doing this . . . what would Potter say if he saw this? He would love to see the shocked face . . .

He broke off the kiss and Lily began to flutter her eyes open. The beautiful green emeralds were glistening, looking at him. But they were seeing this time. Lily looked almost . . . awake.

"Severus?"

**A/N: I am soooo cruel, cliff-hangers are so fun though! Does she know he kissed her? I don't even know yet, but we'll find out soon! Well how was it? Too long? Too short? Hope you liked it! Next update will be sometime between now and June 13. Now that exams are done, I have PLENTY of time for everything else! And you guys just wait, after June 18, updates will be happening weekly, biweekly, triweekly, and when I get my new laptop, we'll have daily updates all summer long! Review please!**


	5. A Pen Pal Revealed

**A/N: Ha ha ha! I'm back! Sorry it takes me longer to update for this story, but I wanna go slower with this story, since it's a bit shorter than the others. Besides, I like to take my time. Hope this chapter is good, I doubt it'll be **_**that **_**good! Sorry about how last chapter I forgot the lines between sections. BTW, I have NO idea if this is how people are when they become conscious again. Enjoy (well, try!)!**

**This chapter is dedicated to Nymma, an awesome reviewer. :)**

_**Disclaimer: I do not own HP, it belongs to JKR and WB.**_

Snape stared at her.

"Severus, are you OK?"

He shook his head. "Me? OK? You're the one in the hospital!"

Lily blushed. "You just looked, I don't know . . . not OK."

He shrugged. Then he looked down. Did she know he had kissed her? This was sick! It was like one of those fairy-tales Muggles heard. It was like Sleeping Beauty or Snow White. _More like Beauty and the Beast. _He thought, knowing he was no Prince Charming. He hoped she didn't know he had kissed her. But how could she not know? She woke up the second he stopped! "Well," he said, quietly. "I'd better go."

"What? Wait! Stay!"

He shook his head. "Time's up. I've only got fifteen minutes to visit. And, well, they're up."

She sighed sadly. "Why can't you ask Madame Pomfrey if you can stay more?"

"That wouldn't work. The second she's see you awake, she'll shoo me away so you can take potions and sleep more." He rolled his eyes. "Anyway, bye, I guess."

"Bye," she said. He turned around and walked towards the door. "Sev?"

He turned around. "Yeah?"

"Will you come back tomorrow?" she asked. He gave her a curious look.

"If you want me to," he said, his words barely above a whisper.

"I do," she said, her words genuine.

There was a pause. He wondered if she was just saying that she wanted him back because she had just regained consciousness. Maybe it was because she was trying to be nice. But it couldn't be because she _actually _wanted him there. But it didn't matter; he would come. Being with her was good enough. "Then I'll come."

She smiled. "Thanks."

He shrugged and turned around and began walking towards the door again. Before he reached it, Madame Pomfrey burst in. She looked angry. "Mr. Snape, your time is-" Then she paused, and peered past the skinny boy to see Lily, sitting up. She smiled. "Oh, dear, you've woken up! Snape, why didn't you tell me?"

"Well, I was-"

"No matter, no matter, this girl needs to take her potions and then she needs to rest. Shoo, shoo." As Madame Pomfrey bustled around the potions materials, Snape looked at Lily, who was smiling, and gave her a look that said, "See? I told you." He sighed and walked towards the door and this time, actually left.

#######################################

Avery nudged Snape. "You're about to fall into your food," he said. Mulciber and Rockwood both gave a snort. Snape gave them each a glare, then put his hand in his hair. He was tired. It was Thursday morning and Snape had been up late doing his homework. He went to visit Lily at eight and stayed for an hour, and then he went back to the common room. It was his new routine. It gave him time with Lily and time for his normal activities too. He was glad Madame Pomfrey extended the visiting hours, now that Lily was regaining health. It was also the only time of day not a single visitor came. That meant the only ones who new he was visiting were Madame Pomfrey and Lily herself, of course.

It wasn't exactly ideal, however, because people would always ask him where he went. Sometimes, they would nag him so much, he would nearly give in. But he wouldn't give in. He just couldn't. Another problem was homework. He would usually take three hours for homework, starting at seven and ending at ten. Then he would stay up an hour. Not anymore. He would start at nine now and end at one or two in the morning. It wasn't just because he was starting later. The common room had been much busier and nosier lately, now that it was nearly summer holiday. Sometimes, students would throw parties at random, something that distracted Severus, and Slughorn, the party lover, would do nothing about it. Occasionally, a studying seventh year _would_ tell the party animals to shut the hell up. Another problem was, with N.E.W.T.'s coming, homework was at overload and he had so much studying to do. That made everything take longer!

And once he finally did go to bed, he just couldn't sleep. Usually he would toss and turn and mess up his blankets and fix them again and get thirsty and get up for water and drink some and spill it and clean it and go back to bed and repeat. Some nights, he would just lie awake, staring at the ceiling. Others his sleep would be plagued with nightmares. And on the rare occasion he slept, something would happen that would make noise and wake him up. He knew it was helpless, but what else was there to do during the dark, empty hours of the night? Read? His eyes were too tired and candlelight made them strain. Go visit Lily? She'd be asleep. Hit Mulciber with a pillow? He might as well commit suicide.

And he still wondered why on earth Lily Evans still wanted him to keep visiting him. Was it out of force of habit? Was she merely bored during that hour and would visit with anybody, just to waste time? He hadn't a clue, but he knew one thing for sure, it wasn't because she wanted him there. She hadn't shown any sign of not wanting him there, but he looked at the facts. She had been ignoring him for the past two years, not counting the conversation they had two weeks back, and even that was forced! She was dating Potter, his enemy. She . . . well, hated him! He had called her a Mudblood! She couldn't possibly want him there.

"You haven't been sleeping at all," said Avery.

"How would you know?" said Snape briskly.

"You stalking him, Avery? You not telling us something?" asked Rockwood. Mulciber gagged on his bacon, laughing. Avery rolled his eyes.

"I go to bed and your still awake. I lie awake for an hour, two hours, and you don't come in. If you do come in, you lie down, but you'll get right back up and you'll roll around. I wake up in the middle of the night, you're awake. Sure you're not going to a drug dealer every night at eight?" said Avery.

"If I was, I wouldn't be rolling around in bed, I'd be in the Forbidden Forest doing drugs with the centaurs." Snape muttered. Narcissia smiled and pushed the bacon towards him. "I'm not hungry." he muttered

"Eat, you God damn twig!" said Mulciber. "You're always complaining about being skinny and you've been starving yourself this whole time?"

"Eating won't do anything," said Snape angrily.

"Except keep you alive," said Narcissa. "Fine, don't eat." Mulciber pulled the bacon towards him and took a piece.

Snape stood up. "I'm going."

"Where?" asked Narcissa. "We don't have classes for half an hour."

"None of your business. There's nothing to do here. This conversation's pointless."

"You just figured that out?" asked Rockwood. "They call you smart!"

"And they call me stupid!" said Mulciber. Everybody stared at him.

"Bye." said Snape and he turned, walking from the table. He walked down the table and reached the entrance. He left the Great Hall.

He walked down the hallway out of the Great Hall. He walked for a few minutes when:

"Why hello, Snivelly! Long time no see!"

Snape turned around to see Potter, Black, Pettigrew, and Lupin. Potter and Black were next to each other, slowly walking towards Snape, smiling. Pettigrew was behind them, smiling excitedly. Lupin was lurking in the background, looking upset. "Where've ya been Sniv?" asked Black. "We haven't seen you around lately! Why? Taking a break from your amazingly huge and exciting social life?" James snorted.

"I've been around," said Snape. "You've just been in detention."

"You've been around?" asked James. "Really? I haven't seen you! It's like you're invisible! And by the way, stupid, detention's at night." Sirius slowly pulled his wand out of his robes. "Hold up, Padfoot." Then he lowered his tone. "Verbal, _then _physical." Sirius nodded and walked a bit past James.

"I _have _seen Snivelly actually, Prongs." said Sirius slowly. "Around the Hospital Wing. I _wonder, _what on earth would Snivelly be doing up there?"

"I don't go to the Hospital Wing," said Snape. He began to walk away from the Marauders.

"Hold it, Snivelly!" shouted Sirius. Snape turned around to see Black with his wand pointed at Snape. A few people were watching this scenario now. "Attempt to walk away, and you fall to the floor." Snape sighed and crossed his arms across his chest.

"Very well. Go ahead. Entertain me."

"Now, back to the Hospital Wing." said Prongs. "Do you have any guesses why Sniv would be up there?"

"I don't think it's a why, Prongs." said Sirius, grinning. "I think it's a who!"

Wormtail cackled.

James gave a fake gasp. "A who? A who? Who? Tell us Snivellus!"

"There's not a single human being in this entire school I would take a single second to visit in the Hospital Wing."

"Oh, Snivellus, didn't mummy tell you not to lie?" mocked James.

"I bet she was too busy trying to earn back the money his father threw away." said Sirius. "Pennies are valuable to Snapes, huh?"

Snape gritted his teeth.

Sirius noticed. "Well, well, well, we're _angry _now, are we?"

"What's the matter Snivelly? Are you just _dying _to go see Lily and tell her about how _horrible _I've been to you? Are you waiting for her to give her fake concern? Do you long to feel her fake acceptance and understanding?" James laughed. "How pathetic."

Snape was about to leave, when Sirius said, "_Expelliarmus!"_

Snape's wand flew away from him and into Sirius's hand. "Tut, tut, Snivelly, I thought you might be a little quicker than _that!"_

Snape didn't make any reaction. If he ignored them, they might, eventually, get bored.

"Oh, poor Snivelly, he must feel so upset now!" said Sirius. "All alone, wandless, in a school corridor. We ought to finish up here, James, so Sniv can go cry to Lily."

"School-boy fancies are so romantic," said James in a girly voice. Sirius snickered. "Knocks you right off your feet! _Impedimenta!"_

Snape fell flat on his back, slamming into the corridors hard floors. He groaned. His head hurt.

The crowd had gotten bigger and was now surrounding him. James smiled. "Honestly, do you _actually _think Lily's going want _you _when she has somebody like me?" A few people laughed. "Seriously, you're funny!"

"You could be the new class clown!" said Sirius. Wormtail collapsed laughing.

Snape grimaced, deciding not to say anything until the spell wore off.

"I bet Lily writes about you in her diary," said James.

"Yes, of course she does! said Sirius loudly. _"Dear Diary, Today, that annoying, slimy loser, Snivellus Snape visited me again! He's the ugliest thing on the planet! I swear, I saw the plant on my bed table die when he walked in. I pretend to be nice to him so I'll have everybody in the school be my friend. If he tells the Slytherins about me, then they'll be my friends too and I can achieve school domination! I hope he dies soon, but I'll go to his funeral to keep my cover. Not that it would matter, nobody else will come. Still, I'll put a flower filled with man-eating worms at his grave!" _He said this in a sweet, girly tone. The crowd began to cackle with laughter. Snape smirked. _When will this be over? _He thought miserably.

He tried moving his arm slightly, to realize, he actually could. Wishing his wand was in his pocket and not in Black's filthy hands, he decided to wait a little more so he could escape while Potter wasn't looking and get his wand.

"James?" Potter and Black both turned around to see Lupin. Snape grinned. _Smart move, werewolf. _He looked at Black, trying to see where his wand was.

"Yeah, Moony, what is it? Wanna help with Snivellus?" said James excitedly. Snape rolled his eyes.

"Er . . . no, I'd rather watch. But James, it's almost time for class, you'd better finish up, you know." Lupin fiddled with his fingers and stammered a bit. "Or we could just go."

"No, no, no, no, no, Moony!" said Sirius. "Everything ought to have a nice ending!"

Snape slowly sat up. The crowd was now watching the talk between the Marauders and didn't pay much attention to Snape. He slowly stood up and slipped his wand out of Sirius's pocket. He picked up his bag, which had fallen beside him, and walked away. _So much for that nice ending, Black. _

_#######################################_

"So are you sure there was nothing new today?" asked Lily.

Snape was sitting in the Hospital Wing, on a chair beside Lily's bed. She was sitting up, playing around with a piece of paper. He was thirty minutes into a visit. Thirty very long minutes, he felt. For the first time, he didn't feel like visiting her, but he came anyway. Was it because of the Marauders' taunting? _No, of course not. I'm not some silly five-year-old girl whose feelings get hurt at everything. _Still, he wondered why he didn't want to come. Maybe it was just that he was too tired. "No. It's same stuff everyday. Slughorn going all over my potion, wishing you were here, wondering how you would do. Flitwick showing us another charm I won't use. McGonagall turning a dictionary into a parrot. Nothing new." He looked at the clock. She slammed the paper on her bed.

"Oh Severus, stop lying! I heard about what happened today from Mary! She told me that James and Sirius were picking on you again! She told me every detail." Lily smiled sadly and looked at him. He shrugged.

"That Mary girl's a damned gossip." he muttered. Lily crumpled and aimed the paper at the trashcan. It missed.

_"Accio paper!" _she said and it came back to her. "Sev, don't be so mean. She was just telling me about what happened today, that's all."

"If you knew about what happened, then why did you ask me?" he asked. He looked at the clock.

"Just to see what you would say," she said. "But I didn't know you told people that you came to visit me. I didn't think you'd want major publicity."

"I haven't told anybody. I guess Black saw me."

She aimed the paper again and it made it in. "That's kinda . . . stalkerish. But now everybody knows."

"They think they were joking. Well, at least the Slytherins do. Besides, why should I care? I'm not ashamed of you."

Lily looked down, smiling. "That's . . . er, flattering."

"It's not supposed to be. It's just the truth." Lily looked up and smiled. "So tell me, did your gossiping little friend tell you what Potter and Black said?"

"Some," she said. "They said that I don't like you and I pretend to be nice to you." Snape said nothing and looked at his hands. Lily gaped. "You don't actually believe that, do you?"

"Of course not!" he said. "I just . . . it's nothing."

"Tell me!" she demanded.

"I . . . I already told you, it's nothing."

"There's something! Tell me!"

He sighed. "Fine. Before this happened, before you fell out of the window, you've been avoiding me. Since the end of fifth year, you wouldn't even get near me! I don't get it. Why do you all of a sudden want me here?"

"Because you've been here since I fell. You were with me when I woke up. I just . . . when I woke up, Sev, I felt something totally amazing, like something . . . magical, almost, that woke me up. I would love to feel it again." She smiled and leaned back. _Damn. She thinks my kiss is magical! What the hell would she say if she knew what that "something magical" really was? _He thought.

"Anyway, did Gossip Girl tell you anything else?"

"Yeah . . ." Then she paused. "She said that James and Sirius kept saying that you . . . . Fancy me, you know."

Snape raised an eyebrow and smiled. "OK, that's gross, no offense, but I see you as a friend," he lied.

"I know, me too, I see you as, well, a friend, I guess." Then she paused. "But I'm still mad at you."

"I know you are." he said, quietly. There was a pause.

"Anyway," said Lily. "Enough of James and Sirius, what about classes? Mary gave me my homework when she was here. I finished Potions and Transfiguration, but I didn't get around to Charms. Have you done it yet?"

"I've told you about eighty times, I do my homework after I come here." he said impatiently.

"OK, OK, don't get pissed off!" she said. "I'm a sick girl in the hospital! Give me a break!"

"Speaking of which, when are you getting out?" he asked.

"In two weeks." she said. "That's one week before N.E.W.T.'s and three before graduation. Aren't you excited?"

He shrugged.

"Wow, you're even more excited than I am!" she said sarcastically.

"Shut up," he said.

"Back to homework, I ought to start now." she said. "Could you pass me my Charms book, parchment and quill? They're in my bag."

"Sure," he said. He picked up the bag from where it lay beside the bed. He opened it and put the book, the parchment, the quill and the inkbottle on the bed.

"Thanks," she said, opening the book.

"You're welcome," he replied. He was about to shut the bag, when he saw a folder with a bunch of parchment sticking out of it. "What's in the red folder?" he asked.

"What?" she asked, looking up. "The folder? Oh, those are my pen pal letters. I haven't really gotten any lately. I guess it's because I haven't sent any."

"I haven't either," he said. "Mind if I look at them?"

"Go right ahead," she said. "I've got an essay to write."

He pulled the folder out of her bag and put the bag on the floor. He placed the red folder on her lap. On the front cover, in huge letters, was: LILY'S PEN PAL FOLDER. He opened it and picked up the first letter.

The letter seemed familiar, like he had read it somewhere before. It was from Lily's Slytherin pen pal. He looked at it a bit closer. He suddenly realized something. The handwriting looked familiar too! Had he seen any of his friends' pen pal letters? He couldn't recall anybody except Narcissa showing it to him. But that wasn't Narcissa's handwriting and besides, Narcissa got a bloke. And as far as he knew, Lily was _not _a bloke!

But then who could it be?

He looked closer at the letters. That f looked really familiar. It kind of looked like the way _he _wrote _his _f.

_Lily's my pen pal?_

**A/N: Sigh. Another cliff hanger! I cannot get ENOUGH of those! Please review, ok? I love reviews! Hope this wasn't too short, I'll try to make the next chapter longer. **_**TRY! **_**Next update: Anytime between now and June 20. Thanks for reading!**


	6. Two Talks, Two Girls

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm back again! I PROMISE this chapter will be cliffhanger free! Thanks you so much for all your reviews, anonymous or not, I love them all! Anyway, I've been planning this story out and I'm sad to say we have only three-five updates after this one. :( But let's enjoy this for now, K? This is sorta short, but size, I have learned, isn't **_**that **_**important. Enjoy! **

**This chapter is dedicated to TheMoonIsBlack for reviewing and having a cool username.**

_**Disclaimer: I don't own HP, it belongs to JKR and WB.**_

Snape quickly shut the folder and slipped it back into Lily's bag. _I didn't even realize it was her! I am so stupid! _He looked over at Lily's work, then back at the clock. He still had fifteen minutes. _I just wanna leave, _he thought. But he wasn't going to leave. He was going to stay with her, because he didn't want her thinking that some stupid Marauder taunting would keep him from her. It wasn't a lie . . . was it? Lily put down the quill. "This is boring," she said. She looked at his lap and saw the pen pal folder was gone. "Oh, so you read the letters?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Stupid, the pen pal thing," she said, putting the book and quill to the side. "But I go along with it. My pen pal, persistent bloke, he's always trying to figure out what I did or whatever." She sighed. "He gets me really ticked, you know?"

"But isn't that the point of the pen pal thing?" asked Snape. "Getting to know a Gryffindor, or in your case, a Slytherin? A lot of my friends have figured out who theirs is and they're surprised. Some are surprised a fat loser was actually the person they were so interested in, or that the annoying moron they were talking to was actually somebody they thought was cute or whatever." Lily raised an eyebrow.

"But it just wrecks the whole concept. Why continue the letters when you already know who the person is and can go talk to them face-to-face?"

"The letters are the building blocks that help you become friends with that person," he commented. "But that's my opinion,"

"It is," she said. "It's pointless to fight about, though. Almost half my friends, according to Mary, have given up on it. They should seriously supervise it more if they wanted to keep it going. The teachers, I mean." Snape nodded. "Professor McGonagall told me that we meet our pen pal after the graduation ceremony."

"That'll be interesting," said Snape, thinking about how Lily would react when she had to go meet him.

"It certainly will be!" She said. "What'd you get, a girl or a guy?"

"Girl," he said.

"Cool," she said. He wanted to go into a whole thing about how his girl was really lame and boring, but he knew he'd pay for _that _on the last day of school. "I can't wait for graduation."

"Why? I thought you were sad to leave Hogwarts," he asked.

"Oh, I am, I am!" Lily said hastily. "I just can't wait to wear that graduation cap and get my diploma and my N.E.W.T. results and get presents from my parents and meet my pen pal and the whole package. You _have _to be at least a tiny bit excited!"

"I'm . . . I don't know, I guess I'm excited."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, think about why you're excited: First of all, you want to wear a hat? Why should I be excited about that?" Lily giggled and turned a light shade of pink. "Second, you want to get your diploma. Well . . . that's something to look forward to . . . but really, a diploma is just a fancy piece of paper telling you to get out of the school!" Lily laughed.

"Oh, Severus, don't think like that! Diplomas are important."

Snape rolled his eyes. "Think what you wish, but I still stay that. Third, you're excited to get your N.E.W.T. results. I am too, I have to admit, I hope I do well. Fourth, presents from your parents? I'm not getting a card from my parents, nevertheless a present, and you can forget adding an S to that. They don't give a damn that I graduated. Well, my mum might say she's happy for me and she hopes I get a good job, but that's it. When I come home, I might just get kicked out of the house." Lily looked at him sadly.

"I'm sorry, I forgot about your parents. I'm just excited about mine . . . sorry."

"It's nothing," he said.

"OK, keep going then," she said impatiently. "What about the last thing? Are you excited about meeting your pen pal?"

He stopped to think. _If I say yes, she'll wonder why and get all suspicious. If I say no, the last day of school, she'll be angry with me. Sensitive girl. _"I don't know," he said. "I have to meet her first." He looked at the clock again. _Five minutes . . ._

"Why do you keep looking at the clock?" she asked, sounding a bit angry. "You can't wait to leave?"

"No, it's not that," he lied. It usually wasn't that; it was because he had a lot to do and he needed to hurry back to the common room before Filch would be angry with him and so he could finish his homework. It was the same tonight as well, it was just. . Different. "I just have so much homework left and I need to leave as soon as my hour is up." She gave him a curious look, and then said, "OK, I get it. I know how you feel, I'm so busy, the teachers won't give me slack, even though I'm-" She put her arm to her forehead and fell against the pillow. "-injured."

Snape stifled a laughed. "You're so weird,"

"I know," she said happily.

"But seriously, I don't blame them. It's not like you have next year to make up all this stuff. And with N.E.W.T.'s coming up, we have to study."

"I know! We fail N.E.W.T.'s, we lose a good career. I hope I pass!"

"Me too. I just want a good job."

"Who doesn't?"

"The seventh year lunatics in the Slytherin common room who have parties every night until one in the morning instead of actually doing something productive," he muttered.

"Sev, don't you like parties?" she asked, smiling.

"You know I don't," he said. "I hate parties. If they had one once in a while, I wouldn't care, but every night? It's mental." She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I guess it is a bit _too _crazy-"

"A bit? It's insane!"

"Think what you wish, but I still say that," she said. He smirked. "Anyway, party animals are fun sometimes. Then again, the rest of the time, they're so retarded."

"Yeah," he said, looking at the clock. "Damn, I have to go now."

"Awww . . . one more minute?"

"No," he said. "Stop acting like a child. And I don't care that you're injured!" he shouted as she put her arm to her forehead.

"Oh, fine, fine, fine! Bye!" she called, grabbing her homework again.

"Bye," he said, practically flying out. He hadn't a single clue why he didn't want to be with her today, but he just didn't. That had to be a good enough answer because it was the only one he had. He sighed as he rushed down the hallway.

"Hi, Severus, where are you going?" came a voice.

Snape whisked around to see Narcissa Black, her hair in a French braid behind her back. She looked rather pretty, prettier than usual, and she was smiling.

"Oh, hello, Narcissa. I was just going back to the common room," he said. She walked up next to him, her bag on her shoulder.

"May I walk back with you?" she asked, cordially.

"Um . . . very well," he said, surprised at her manner. She smiled again.

"Let's go then," The two of them walked down the long corridor, on their way back to the dungeons. "Where've you been? Visiting Lily Evans?" she teased.

"I hope you don't actually believe that," he said. "Potter and Black . . . you know."

"I know, and I don't believe you would take time to go and visit some crummy Mudblood. Anyway, where _have _you been?"

"Me?" he asked. She nodded. "I have been . . . where have I been? Oh, right, the library! Yes, the library."

"Really?" she asked and he nodded. "That's funny, because I didn't see you there and I've been in the Charms section all afternoon."

"Oh, you were there? I think I saw you when I was leaving; I came in at eight. I was in the . . . Astronomy section," he said quickly, thinking of the section farthest away from Charms.

"Astronomy? Why Astronomy?"

"Why Astronomy? Good question . . . why Astronomy . . . . well, it was because of some moon cycle thing in Potions . . . for Veritaserum, you know . . ."

"Oh," she said. "But you weren't coming from the library. When did you leave? I left at nine."

"Eight-thirty and then I went to the Astronomy Tower . . . air, you know . . ."

"Oh," she said, a smile playing on her face. There was a glint in her eyes. "Anyway, you OK? Potter was . . . pretty harsh this morning."

"That wasn't bad, compared with other situations," he said.

"I wish they would leave you alone," she said, with a sigh. "But no matter, the end of the year is nearing and by then, Potter will have gone way and you another."

"Very true. And what about you? When's your wedding going to be?"

"In August. I don't know why they picked Lucius for me, though. Just because we're both pureblood and blonde?"

Snape gave a quick smile. "And rich."

"And rich," she repeated.

"But what's the matter with that? Don't you like Lucius at all?"

"Well . . ."

"Not even as a friend?" he asked, shocked.

"Not really. I just flirt around with him to make things less . . . awkward."

"Wow. I can't imagine marrying anybody I wasn't friends with. I can't imagine marrying anybody I wasn't _more _than friends with. Any chance of it being changed?"

"If I can find somebody of his class I wish to marry, perhaps," she said, her voice light. He nodded. After a few minutes, she said, "You know, there's a Hogsmeade visit the week after N.E.W.T.'s, right before graduation. Any plans?" "Not yet. Why?"

"Oh . . . you know . . . I was just wondering . . . I don't have any plans either. I was thinking we could . . . do something together . . . like get a drink or just walk around."

"Oh . . . well, I don't know. I might have plans by then, though, but I'll see. If I can go, I will. I promise."

"Thanks," she said. "I'd like that."

They reached the common room. "Well, I have to start my homework," he said, throwing himself in a chair, opening his bag.

"Oh, OK. Well, I'll leave you be." He was no longer listening. He was too indulged in his work. She sighed and walked across the room and sat on a couch. Why was it so hard to express her feelings towards him? She knew he was visiting that Evans girl. She should have never told him she had fallen out of a window! Now she had to fight to get Severus back for herself. She would take the graceful approach, and then, bite hard, if necessary. She would give it her all. She scribbled a note in her diary:

_Love isn't a game, it's a battle._

**A/N: That doesn't count as a cliff hanger, OK? IT's just suspenseful! Ha ha ha! Anyway, another completed chapter. Yawn . . . I'm writing this at night, btw, but I'm going to update it tomorrow. Yawn . . . I'm going to go to bed now. 'Night. ZZZZzzz . . . oh, review, OK? Thanks. ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz . . . . . . . . . .**


	7. The Return of the Lily

_**A/N: This is story is getting really good now. I never intended Narcissa to become a conflict, but I just decided to slip her in! It's so fun! Hope you like this chapter . . . not too much romance here, sorry, but I have to exclude it sometimes! :)**_

_**TWO WEEKS LATER . . . . .**_

"C'mon!"

"No, I'm not going _anywhere!"_

"Don't be silly, you have to go out. You've been cooped up for weeks! I'll go with you!"

"No, no, no! Please, let's just play wizard chess in here for a while. Maybe we can go out later!"

Mary put her hands on her hips. It was ten o'clock, Thursday morning and Lily had gotten out of the hospital wing at 6 am. She was expected at all her classes on Friday, but she had Thursday to make up the extra work she may have missed. Nobody knew she was out of the Hospital, except for Mary, who had taken her back to their dorm in Gryffindor Tower. Lily insisted on staying in their room and that Mary told no one. Mary obliged and went to breakfast without her. When she came back with a few biscuits and a piece of bacon for Lily, she found her friend on her bed doing homework. Mary decided to skip a few classes to help her friend catch up. They finished at 9 and had been talking for a while. Finally, Mary really had to go and she insisted Lily go out too. Lily was refusing, but was begging that Mary would stay. "Lily, I have to go to Charms. N.E.W.T.'s are next week and you know I'm not the best at Charms. I need to practice and get a review guide from Professor Flitwick."

"I already have a review guide! We can practice in here! And I'll help you!"

picked up her bag. " I can't miss another class. Come with me, we can walk as far as the Charms corridor together.

"No, I won't go anywhere. Puh-lease stay."

"Sorry, I just can't. If you aren't coming, then I'll see you during free period. We can study together."

"When's that?"

"Right before lunch."

Lily sighed and slumped into the bed. "Fine. Bye."

"Bye," said Mary sadly as she walked out the door. Lily heard the door click. She stood up and walked over to a pile of books on the dresser. She looked at the books and decided to read one of them. She finally decided on _Quidditch Through the Ages. _She flipped through the book, reading about Quaffle sizes and how only the Seeker could touch the Snitch and how Quidditch wasn't as popular in America because they had a different broom sport. She didn't know why she was reading this book; She wasn't much of a Quidditch fan. _Maybe you miss James, _said a voice in her head. She dropped the book and sat up in bed. She forgot about James! Her boyfriend who pushed her out a window! She widened her eyes. Would she still go out with him after all of this? After he nearly killed her? Did she even like him? Did she hate him? She was bombarding herself with questions and she felt dizzy. What would her friends say? What would he say? What would she do? What would he do? She stood up and decided she needed to go for a walk around the school, to clear her mind.

She strode out of Gryffindor Tower and slowly walked around the school. She needed to decide a few things. Firstly, did she forgive James for what he did? Hm . . . she was angry at him, but . . . perhaps she did forgive him. He didn't mean to push her out the window, though it was his fault for doing it. She was angry because he pushed her out and because he didn't even visit her in the Hospital Wing, but she forgave him for pushing her. For not visiting her . . . well, they needed to talk.

Secondly, did she still want to go out with James? That was hard; How do you do out with someone who nearly killed you? She hadn't a clue. They needed some time to talk. She shook her head and continued walking. She decided to go into the library, since it was empty, since everyone was in class. She slipped inside, when Madame Pince came over to her. "Why aren't you in class?" she demanded.

"Um . . . I'm Lily Evans, Madame Pince, and I was excused from lessons today because I was in the Hospital Wing for a long time and needed a day to catch up."

"Do you need a book to help you catch up?" she asked.

"No, I just-"

"Then you ought to be in class. You're a Gryffindor, correct?"

"Yes . . ."

"I'll talk to Professor McGonagall during lunch. You can attend the last class of the day. It would be rude to interrupt lessons now, since they're already up and running." She walked over to her desk and scribbled something on a parchment.

"I understand," said Lily.

"Very well, you have nearly two hours before lunch, so go about your business. But if I see you step one foot out of line, you're out of the library and into the Headmaster's office!" She stared at her with hawkish eyes. Lily nodded quickly, nervous. She quickly rushed behind a shelf of books in the Muggle-Studies section. She was trying to remember what class she would have that afternoon. _Let's see . . today's Thursday and the class is at one . . . Thursdays at one . . . Potions . . . Double Potions. _She sighed. She would have to face the Gryffindors and the Slytherins. Why did she come to the library? She shook her head and continued to stroll around, looking for something to read. Everything in the library was either something she had read, something boring, or something too long to read in two hours. She didn't want to have a book she wanted to finish when she should be studying. She looked around for about twenty minutes, decided to not read, and retreated to her dorm again. She didn't want to go outdoors, so she spent to remainder of the time studying. Finally, at 11:15, Mary came bursting in again.

"Hey," she said excitedly. "Guess what? I didn't mess up one Charm today. Not one!" She clapped her hands. "I'm going to ace the practical exam!" Lily nodded. "What's wrong?"

"I went to the library while you were gone," said Lily. Mary brightened.

"Great!"

"Yeah, and Madame Pince saw me and asked me what I was doing there and I told her."

"So?"

"She asked me if I was done with my work and I said yes and now she's making me go to Potions this afternoon." Mary's face fell.

"Oh no! You're kidding! You have to face the Slytherins too? I hate Madame Pince. What kind of name is that? Pince." Lily grinned. "So, are you going to lunch?"

"No, Potions is bad enough." said Lily, picking up her bag and making sure it was ready.

"Very true. Want me to bring you something?"

"Nah, I'm good," said Lily, putting the bag on the bed.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," said Lily. "Come on, let's study until lunch."

So the girls pulled out their charms and potions reviewers and began to study. They studied and studied until it was twelve o'clock and Mary went down for lunch. Lily changed into her school robes. She went into the bathroom and brushed her flaming red hair. She went back into the other room. She decided just to study until Potions.

#######################################

Snape stood outside the dungeons for Potions. He couldn't wait for school to be over. All the Slytherins were excited; once N.E.W.T.'s were over, they would be able to do whatever they wanted. Well, almost everything. But after that, there would be no more classes and no more studying. But there would be graduation preparation and all that stupid graduating stuff. Why couldn't they just send them home? Why did they have to have so much ceremony? Who cared about wearing a graduation hat? Well, Lily did.

Wasn't she getting out of the Hospital Wing this week? She had said something two weeks ago about getting out a week before N.E.W.T.'s and it was a week before N.E.W.T.'s , so she had to be getting out soon. He shrugged it off. Who cared, seriously? When she got out, he'd know. He sighed and leaned against the wall. Slughorn always took _forever. _But he didn't keep many waiting. Only a few students took Potions in N.E.W.T. level, even less in seventh year. Three Ravenclaw girls he didn't know, no Hufflepuffs, Lily, the Mary girl, Lupin, and another boy from Gryffindor, and himself, Narcissa, Avery, Rockwood, Rosier, and a two other girls from Slytherin took the class. And he was guessing less than half would pass the exam next week.

He was waiting outside with the Ravenclaws, Rosier, Rockwood, and the two Slytherin girls. Finally, they heard voices coming from the stairs and Avery and Narcissa came down. Narcissa went over to the two girls and Avery went over to him. "Hey," he said. "How long have you been here?"

"Ten minutes," he said.

"Slughorn's always late," Avery whined and Severus nodded. "What the hell does he do in there while we're here waiting?" They thought about it.

"We can only guess, but I have my ideas," said Snape.

"I don't exactly want to know." Avery said, shuddering.

There was a clattering of footsteps and more voices from the stairs. Lupin, and the other boy came downstairs.

Finally, the classroom door opened up. Slughorn walked out, smiling. "Hello, everybody!" he called joyously. "In the classroom, please, don't delay." The students piled in and sat down at random tables. Narcissa sat next to Severus. Slughorn shut the door, just to have it opened again by Mary.

"Sorry I'm late, Professor!" she said. "I was . . . distracted." She gave a nervous giggle and sat down next to Lupin.

"No need for apologies, my dear," said Slughorn, walking over to his desk, where a cauldron sat. "Now, as you all may or may not know, today is our final class together." He spoke in a soft, delicate tone, unlike his usual booming manner, "Tomorrow, you won't be having Potions and of course, you won't next week. After that, you graduate. You've completed seven years of school. You should be extremely proud of yourselves." He paused for dramatic effect. "I've watched everyone of you grown from tiny children into young men and women. When you walked through these doors for the first times, you couldn't even mix a needle with beetle's blood without blowing up your cauldron. Now, you can make draughts and antidotes that will help you for a long time. Who knows, they might make you a hero . . . or save your own life." Then he grinned. "But as for now," he said, his booming tone returning. "We still have one more class, and I'm going to help you perfect one potion this class has had the most trouble with. You will-" There was a tap at the door. The door creaked open and somebody slipped into the room, shutting the door behind them. Nearly everyone (except Mary, who sat there with a knowing smile on her face) gaped. Even Slughorn looked surprised.

"Professor Slughorn?" she said in a soft voice. "Sorry, I'm so late, I couldn't find my-"

"Lily!" boomed Slughorn. "Lily! How wonderful it is to see you again! I didn't know you were attending classes today!"

"I didn't either, sir, but Madame Pince and Professor McGonagall seemed to think I was able to-"

"I'm so happy you are able to attend your final Potions class. The most gifted Potioneer I've seen in ages! Come, come sit down, no need to be sorry, being late is better than not coming." Lily nodded and hastily sat down next to a Ravenclaw girl. everybody stared at her. She blushed. "Now, now, now, I know we're all happy and excited to see Miss Evans again, _but, _we have some work to do." Everybody looked back at Slughorn.

"Now, everybody, as I was saying, we are going to work on the potion we have the most trouble with. This potion is an O.W.L. potion. Some of the things that were on your O.W.L.'s will be on your N.E.W.T.'s as well and this is one of them. It is the Draught of Peace. I want all of you to partner with somebody in a different house than yourself. You know what to do. You have two hours. Begin."

Nobody moved.

"I said _begin!" _Slughorn snapped. People began to stand up and walk around, trying to find somebody they could actually stand. After a minute, they realized that everybody in Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had to go with a Slytherin if everybody was going to get a partner from another House. Slowly, pairs were formed. Narcissa went with a Ravenclaw girl, as did the other two Slytherin girls. Rockwood went with the Gryffindor boy and Rosier went with Mary. The only people left were Avery, Lupin, Lily, and himself. Lupin walked up to him.

"Hey . . . do you . . . er . . . wanna be partners?" he asked nervously. Snape raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think so," he said. Avery went over to them.

"Look, I'll go with this one, and you take the girl. She just told me to fix my tie. Nutter." He rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." said Snape as Avery and Lupin got a desk. "We're working together."

She looked a bit happy. "OK." They found a desk and sat down. "That Avery kid had his tie all messed-up."

"It happens often," he said quietly, opening his potions book to the correct page.

"You should correct him," she said.

"You should tell me when you get out of the Hospital Wing." he commented.

"Well, sorry, but I thought it'd be a nice surprise."

"It was," he said in a sarcastic voice.

"Oh, whatever." She peered over his shoulder. "Why do you scribble in your Potions book?"

"It's not scribbling, it's alterations."

"You mean you change the ingredients?"

"Yeah."

"That's not right. I'm going to use the proper instructions."

"That won't work. First of all, we're making the same potion. Second of all, I haven't messed-up a single potion with these instructions." He looked into her eyes. "Trust me."

She thought about it. "Fine. But if we fail, I'll blame you."

"Don't worry, we won't fail. We're Slughorn's best potion makers. Let's use your cauldron. I'll go get the ingredients." She nodded, looking for her cauldron. Snape stood up and went over to the cupboard. He was looking for a bottle of dragon scales when Narcissa came over to get her ingredients.

"Hi, Severus," she said casually, shooting glances at him.

"Hi."

"That Ravenclaw shouldn't be in Ravenclaw," she said. "She's an idiot." Snape nodded. "She couldn't even remember what Potion we were going to make."

"Wow, that's sad," he said, gathering the ingredients he needed.

"What about that Evans girl? How's she?"

"A bit obnoxious, but nothing more." Narcissa grimaced behind his back.

"Some Potions class this turned out to be," she complained.

"Yeah," he said. "_Some _Potions class _this_ turned out to be. Bye, Cissy." And he went back to his table, leaving an angry Narcissa.

Lily and Snape kept working on the potion, talking as they worked.

"I don't know why Slughorn thinks this is the hardest," said Lily. "It's easy."

"Very easy . . . um . . . you're supposed to stir three times, not two. Hurry, stir it again."

She quickly gave it another stir. "Oh . . . sorry, I forgot, we're going by your directions."

Finally, the two hours were up. Snape and Lily frantically looked around the room. Because they were in the corner, they were going to be checked last. For now, they wanted to see how everybody else did. Avery and Lupin had made their fairly well, except the vapor on the top looked a bit grayish. Mary and Rosier's potion had a green vapor. Rockwood and the Gryffindor boy's potion gave off purple smoke. Narcissa and the Ravenclaw girl's potion was thick and pink and smelled like something burnt. The other two potions seemed fine. Lily and Snape's potion looked perfect to them, but that didn't matter. It was what Slughorn said that counted.

Slughorn finally made his way over to them. "Now, let's see what these two have concocted, hm?" He looked into the cauldron and gave a smile. "Now _that _is a perfect potion. Amazing! Perfect! These two, the best potion makers in my class! Brilliant, you two, just brilliant. One of you ought to take up potion making as a profession. Who knows, perhaps one of you will become a Potions Master or Mistress when I retire! Well done, well done!" Lily was beaming.

"Thank you, Professor," she said.

"No need for thanks, my dear girl, you deserve all the praise in the world!" He looked at the clock. "But unfortunately, time does not enable me to give it to you. Hurry you all, give me a sample of your potions and label them." Everybody did as they were told. The bell rang and everybody left the dungeons.

"Not a bad last class," said Lily.

"Not at all," said Snape. "Well, bye."

"Why don't we walk together?" she asked.

Snape looked at his fellow Slytherins, who were waiting for him. "Er . . . sorry. I'll see you later, I guess."

Her face fell. "Oh. OK."

"Bye," he said, joining his group. She watched him go. Finally, she just went back to the common room.

#######################################

Snape rubbed his eyes. It was breakfast time on Sunday morning. Tomorrow was N.E.W.T.'s and everybody was studying at breakfast. Snape had been studying since 5 am and he had read through two Transfiguration books, a Charms book, and an Astronomy book. Now, he was eating the words of a Herbology book, trying to cram all that information into his brain. But his eyes _hurt! _Finally, he slammed the book down, making everybody else at the table jump, but not look down from their books. Snape picked up a piece of toast and jammed it down his throat and continued to read.

Suddenly, there were a bunch of hoots. The mail was here. A few of his companions put down their books to get their mail. Snape didn't bother. Nobody ever wrote to him. Usually, he'd watch the owls drop all the letters, eagerly, filled with jealousy, but not today. He couldn't cease studying, not at all. He heard the quiet taps as the letters fell to the table. After a few minutes, Avery said, "Snape, you've got a letter," Snape put the book down and looked at the plate. Indeed, there was a letter. He picked it up and opened it.

_Dear Slytherin,_

_ Sorry I haven't written in a long time, but I've been busy. So, N.E.W.T.'s are tomorrow. I'm nervous, are you? I think I'll do well, especially on Potions. I wonder, were you there? At the last Potions class on Thursday? If you were, then you have to be either Rosier, Rockwood, Avery, or Snape. tell me if you were there because I was._

_ - Gryffindor_

Snape looked up from reading the letter. It was surprising that Lily would tell her pen pal that much about herself. Maybe something happened to her brain when she fell . . .

He shut his book and stood up. He was going to go reply.

Back in the Slytherin common room, Snape put his quill to ink, then quill to paper.

_Gryffindor,_

_ I was there, as-a-matter-of-fact. Since you were there, you're either Lily Evans or Mary M . . . something. I forget now. I think things have gotten better since the last time you've written._

_ - Slytherin_

Snape read it over and slipped it into an envelope. He sealed it and went up to the Owlry and sent it away. He looked around the grounds. It looked nice, all brightened by the sun. _I'm going to miss it here, _he thought. Then he thought of exams and Potter and the teasing and . . . _Well, for the most part._ He sighed and went back to the common room. He needed to study. Again.

_**A/N: Well, this is going nicely. Next chapter, HOGSMEADE! Romance and suspense, you bet! Perhaps, one more update, and then, I won't see you guys for two weeks. So much to do, you know. So, I must be motivated to update another chapter! REVIEW! If you do, I'll have the next chapter up by Friday or Saturday. :) Bye for now.**_


	8. The Hogsmeade Visit

_**Goodness, have I been slacking! Well, the summer one-shots and some twists and turns in my life have kept me from updating for this amazingly fun story for while. But now, I plan to finish this . . . hm . . . I'm going on my NEXT vacation in two weeks, so it may take a while for this to be completed. But I'll have at least two more chapters up before I go . . . that might even be the end!**_

_**So, recap! We've got Severus, Lily, Narcissa, and James in a romantic battle. In this chapter, we introduce the final member of this fight, someone I've made sure you all have forgotten about! What's gonna happen? It's Hogsmeade, things can get dirty!**_

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"Thank _God _those exams are over!"

Snape gave a nod. "I think I've strained my eyes permenatly from studying so much," he groaned. He and Narcissa were eating breakfast in the Great Hall. It was Saturday, the day after the exams. It was such a great day. The burden of the exams had vanished, as well as the rain that had plagued the week. Now, a school-free, sunny day, everybody was babbling about the year's final Hogsmeade trip. For the seventh years, it was their last Hogsmeade trip.

"Me too. Finally, we can actually do something fun." She bit into her waffle. "So," she said. "Any plans for Hogsmeade?"

"No," he said.

"Then . . ."

"Yeah, sure, I'll go with you," he said to a beaming Narcissa. He looked up at the enchanted ceiling and watched the sun dance around the hall. "Thankfully, it isn't raining. Remember the last Hogsmeade visit last year?"

Narcissa laughed. "Do I? It _poured _and we got soaked! And we found out Mulciber's scared of thunder."

"Yeah," he said. Narcissa looked at the clock.

"Well, I'm done here. See you later."

"Bye," he said and Narcissa left, taking a letter she had received with her. He was alone. He looked around the Hall. He knew that soon he would leave this school forever and never, ever, ever return. Why would he return? To teach? Yeah, right. It seemed like only yesterday he was a first year. Well, not really . . . maybe a few days ago . . .

"Hey,"

Snape looked up to see Lily. "Hi,"

"Thank God N.E.W.T.'s are finished, huh?"

"Yeah," he said.

"I was thinking, maybe-"

"Listen, Lily, I'm going to Hogsmeade with Narcissa today." he said quickly. Her face made no change of emotion.

"Oh. Well, that's fine. I was going with James anyway. That's what I was going to tell you"

"You're still dating him?" he demanded.

"Not exactly. I don't know. We aren't together, but we aren't apart."

He looked confused, then said, "Whatever. I just wanted to let you know. Bye."

"Bye." she said, watching him leave. When he was gone, Lily looked hurt. She was going to ask him to go with her. But he was going with Narcissa. _Oh . . . oh . . oh well, it's f-f-fine . . . _She looked over at James and said, "Hey, Hogsmeade, me and you?"

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Narcissa was looking in the mirror in her dorm. She wanted to look absolutely _perfect _for today. Snape probably didn't consider it a date, but she did. She was trying to decide whether to let her hair down or put it in a side ponytail. Finally, after trying each style at least three times, she decided on the ponytail. She grabbed her makeup bag and took out her lipgloss and her blush and her mascara and her eye-shadow and . . .

Everything she could think of, really.

As she was applying her make-up, she was thinking. What would he say when she told him? Would the Evans girl find out? She would have to tell Evans to stay in her place. Maybe she wouldn't have to. Maybe Severus would actually tell Lily himself that he was dating Narcissa Black. That would be ideal. All she needed was for Severus to be in her life and for the Evans girl to be out of his. If only she could make it happen with less force. That's what she would try today. If that didn't work, she would have to get . . . well, forceful. This was her battle. If Evans backed away on her own, it would be less messy. Of course, no matter what, Narcissa would win. She would get what she wanted. That was all there was to know.

Now, how to get Evans out? She could threaten the Mudblood or she could frame Sev looking like he didn't need the Mudblood or she could get Potter to get back with Evans or she could get another boy get with Evans. Or she could show Severus he didn't need a slimy Mudblood. That would be hard, but it would work. She was doing this solo, so it was difficult. But she wasn't going to trust anyone, in fear that word would get to Severus or Potter or Evans.

Narcissa packed up her make-up bag. She looked in the mirror and went into her jewelry box, trying to find some nice earrings. She found a pair of golden hoops. She put them on her ears and smiled. She looked nice now. All she had to do was pick out some shoes. She had been getting herself ready for nearly an hour and a half. It was 10:30 and the trip started at 11.

On her way to pick out a pair of shoes, she noticed the letter on her bed. She didn't know who it was from, for all that was on the envelope was her name in a neat, but unfamiliar, hand. She decided it would be best to read the letter now instead of later, in case she forgot. She had some time before she had to go.

So she sat on her bed and neatly tore the envelope open. She tossed it to the side and unfolded the letter. She began to read it:

_Dear Narcissa,_

_ How are you? I feel most dreadful that I have not spoken to you in a such a long time. I have been terribly busy. I have not seen you for many moons, perhaps since the Christmas before last. By the time you get this, you will be nearing your graduation. I will see how much you have grown and flourished this summer, when our relationship will grow to many lengths. You must be more beautiful than I can remember. _

_ I wrote to you, Narcissa, not just because I miss you, but because I have a very serious matter to speak with you about. As you know, I have many connections with Death Eaters, for am in the Dark Lord's inner circle. A few of the Death Eaters I know are in your year at Hogwarts. This may be rubbish, but I have heard that you are having feelings for a certain Slytherin boy in your year. I will not say who told me this, for that is not important. Let me say this: I will do nothing if we can resolve this now. You are engaged, Narcissa, and you cannot break that engagement. If you can tell me honestly that you have no affections for Severus Snape, I will be satisfied. If I find that you have feelings for Snape, but tbey can wear off, I will be happy. But if I find that you have feelings for him and he returns them and they are strong feelings, then I will sort it out myself, And, Narcissa, you do not want that to happen._

_ I hope to see you soon._

_ Yours,_

_ Lucius_

Narcissa dropped the letter. She forgot about Lucius! Her fiancé her forgot all about her! She widened her eyes. Would she still marry him after all of this? After he forgot about her? Did she even like him? Did she hate him? She was bombarding herself with questions and she felt dizzy. What would her friends say if she broke the engagement? What would he say? What would she do? What would he do? She stood up, grabbed some shoes, and decided to walk down to Hogsmeade early.

She strode out of the dungeons and slowly walked around the school. She needed to decide a few things. Firstly, did she forgive Lucius for forgetting her. Hm . . . she was angry at him, but . . . perhaps she did forgive him. He had been busy after all, though it was his fault for forgetting to write. She was angry because she was to marry him and she didn't even try to become her friend, but she forgave him for not writing. For only writing because he had to . . . well, they needed to talk.

Secondly, could she still marry Lucius, but date Severus until the wedding? That was hard; How do you marry someone you barely know when you like another guy? She hadn't a clue. This was a mess. She needed to talk to both of them. She reached the entrance to Hogsmeade and decided to wait until Severus arrived.

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Narcissa pulled Severus along through the crowds of Hogsmeade. Such a nice day brought everyone outside.

"Come on, let's go to the Hogs' Head today!" she exclaimed.

"I don't care where we go," said Severus, glancing at Lily and James looking into Zonko's as he passed.

"Good, then we'll go to Madame Puddifoot's." she said.

"NO!" he shouted. He remembered it raining one Hogsmeade trip in his fourth year and he and Avery had ran into Madame Puddifoot's for cover. It was frilly and girly and cramped. "The Hogs' Head is fine!"

"Oh," said Narcissa, smiling, knowing he would come through. "OK, then." She continued to pull him towards the pub.

They finally reached the small dwelling. They went inside, avoiding the goat by the door, and went to the counter. The only person in the bar was an old witch sitting in a corner. Aberforth Dumbledore came to the counter.

"What d'you want?" he mumbled. Narcissa looked at Severus. He shrugged.

"Two firewhiskeys, please." she said. He raised an eyebrow.

"And how old you be?" he said.

"He's eighteen and I'm-"

"He's eighteen?" said Aberforth. He started to cackle. "He don't even look sixteen! Eighteen!"

"Well he is and we'll pay you extra-" ("Narcissa, I don't have any extra money!" whispered Severus) "-just to prove it!" She gave a hmph.

Aberforth narrowed his eyes. "You can't money ME up! What about you, pretty, how old are you?"

"I'm eighteen as well," she said.

"Now _that _I can believe," he said.

"What do you mean by that?" she snapped. But he ignored her, pouring her a cup of firewhiskey. "I refuse to take this if you don't give him some as well!"

"Narcissa-" Snape whispered. But she shushed him.

Aberforth sighed. "Very _well," _he muttered, pouring him a glass too. She paid without another word and they sat down in the corner farthest from the witch.

"Narcissa, you didn't have to do that," he said, staring into his cup.

"Do what?" she asked. "Fight so you could get a drink or pay?"

"Both," he said. "I could've paid. And besides, I don't even drink this stuff." Narcissa put her hands on her hips. "So you made me yell at him for nothing?"

"I didn't make you, I tried to tell you. I don't drink."

She sighed and took the cup, "Fine, I'll throw it out."

"Why don't you drink it? It'd be a waste if you didn't."

Narcissa laughed. "Severus, the only thing we waste is time!" Then she cleared her throat. "But I . . . er, don't want to waste time."

"Go on," he said.

"Well," she started, her hands shaking. "I've been thinking about this for a while now and well . . . I have something to tell you." Then she froze and drained her cup. She began to pant. "Oh God, I just . . . Oh God!"

"What is it?" he asked, earnestly.

She took a deep breath in and exhaled, then said:

"Severus everything has just been so confusing! I mean Lily falls out of a window and you visit her everyday and she starts to like you but Potter wants her back so he mocks you in public and you tell everyone it's a lie when it's really the truth and now I like you and I've wanted to tell you forever and I bet if that Lily girl knew she'd kill me and now she's all out of the Hospital Wing and dating Potter again even though she says she isn't for your sake and I bet they'll be snogging by graduation!" She said this rather fast, so she was panting. She breathed heavily, then took a gulp of her drink.

"Um . . ." Snape said, surprised at her speed. "Well, the whole Lily thing isn't any of your-" Then, suddenly, he realized something. "Wait a tick . . . _what did you say?"_

Narcissa nearly choked in fright. "I . . . I like you. I really like you. I've always admired you, but the crush started just this year. I really, really, _really _want to go out with you. Will you go out with me?"

Snape stared at her for a very long time. It was obvious that shock and surprise were attacking him. But he also looked thoughtful, like he was trying to grasp the right words. Finally, he spoke.

"Narcissa, this entire situation is none of your business. The Lily dilema. It's between Lily, myself, and now Potter. I'm sorry, but there is no need for you to get involved." She was about to yell at him, about how without her, he wouldn't even have known about Lily's injury. But, realizing that would minimize her chances at him dating her, she was silent. "And you . . . liking me . . . is . . . very . . . surprising."

"How is it surprising, Severus?" she asked tenderly. "You're smart and you're humurous- why does it surprise you that someone likes you?

Potter's words echoed in his head. _"Honestly, do you __**actually**__ think Lily's going want __**you **__when she has somebody like me? Seriously, you're funny!" _He shook them away.

"It does, since no girl has ever said that to me before."

"Well, they're either really shy or really stupid. Sirius Black? Please!" She rolled her eyes. "You beat him by a long shot. He just picks on you because he's all . . . you know, insecure." She started twirling a strand of hair. "So . . . is it yes?"

"Narcissa, I . . ." He thought of Lucius. She was engaged to Lucius, someone he respected very much. Dating his fiance . . . that was stupid! No, he couldn't. Not that he even had feelings for Narcissa Black! "I can't. I'm sorry. You're engaged. To Lucius Malfoy. He's by far much better than I ever would be. I'm sorry . . . I can't." He stood up, looking into her surprised face. "You'll be better off with him than with me." And with that, he left.

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"You see those over there? Remus bought them last trip, but Peter sat on them and they snapped. But they're pretty useful for stealing stuff, you know?"

"Glad you're interested in being a thief!" she teased. "Oooh, what are those?"

"I gave those to Sirius for his birthday. Invisible ink quills. Not reusable, unfortunately."

Lily sighed. "What a waste. I bet some potions genius could make better invisible ink than that cheap stuff!"

"Like you. You're Slughorn's Potion Princess."

"And you're his Pain in the Potion."

James smiled. "Or his Poison without an Antidote! Oh, check out that candy! It makes your eyes change colors!"

In the window's reflection, Lily saw Narcissa Black pass by with Severus. She ignored them. She wanted to have fun today. "Really?" she asked. "Any color?"

"No, the color that looks best or worst in your eyes. You just buy the Best candy or the Worst candy. They taste like strawberry."

"Sweet!" she said.

"Yeah. And that's Zonko's!" He looked up from the window they were looking into. "Let's get some butterbeer."

"Can we go to the Hog's Head?" she asked, knowing that's where Severus was.

"That run down old place? No way!" He rolled his eyes. "You spend too much time with Snape. Not that it matters, I'm cool." He hoped his . . . less evilness towards Snape would get Lily back. "Let's go to the Three Broomsticks. Their cups are clean." So the two of them walked over to the pub.

"After this, wanna go to the post office and look at the owls?" asked James. "Or stare at the Shrieking Shack?"

"Neither," she said, kicking a pebble. "Let's go to Honeydukes, then we can check out the post office. But staring at some house for an hour is not how I want to spend my time!"

James laughed. "You're right. Yeah, let's use your agenda." He hoped agreeing would make her more willing to take him back.

They reached the Three Broomsticks and sat down. They placed their orders. James made sure they sat in the farthest corner of the bar. When she took him back, he didn't want all of his fans hearing. This was personal, for now. On graduation day, he'd snog her and the whole world would now.

And Snape would break.

Who doesn't like graduations?

"So, Lily," said James. "Excited about graduation?"

"Yep! Practice starts tomorrow, I'm so excited to graduate and start my Auror training."

"Me too! What a promising career!" Then he leaned in. "So . . what's . . . er . . . Snape doing after this?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. With his good grades, he should be doing something promising."

"Hm. Funny that he didn't tell you. But anyway, he's Severus Snape the Shy and Secretive Slytherin."

"SSSSS?"

"Uh-huh."

"Weird." She rolled her eyes. They got their drinks and leisurely began to sip and talk. Finally, after some silence, James took his chances, crossed his fingers under the table, and hoped for the best,

"Lily?"

She looked up from her drink. "Yeah?"

"I . . . I need to talk to you. Seriously talk to you, not kidding around."

"Is that possible?"

"Honestly, Lily, no joke."

"OK, OK," she said smiling.

"I just . . . I feel really bad about the whole window thing. I started a problem and you ended up falling out. I take total responsibility, Lily, really. I felt just awful. And then, I couldn't visit you because of classes and nightly detentions and I felt even worse. And then Snape, my enemy, starts visiting you. Why, Lily? What does he got that I don't? Why do you like him after what he said to you?"

Lily looked a bit surprised. "I don't favor either of you. You're both my friends. You both made mistakes. I'm still mad at him, James. I haven't forgiven him. But why be all weird about it anymore when he watched me recover?"

"So if I had watched you recover, you wouldn't be weird about this?"

She gave a laugh. "James, I'm not! I'm here with you in Hogsmeade! I'm not angry at you because of what happened. You didn't mean it. It wasn't you who directly pushed me out. He directly insulted me. But he's really sorry." Then she smiled. "Don't get jealous, James, I'm not even thinking of dating him! He's been my best friend since I was nine. We've been through too much to just start snogging."

James gave a crooked smile. "I guess so."

"I'm not upset, James. Not about that." Then she frowned. "But come on, james, you're much more mature than to start freaking out Hufflepuffs!"

"I know. I haven't been bad since."

"Oh yes, you have, you liar! You humiliated Severus Snape again! Mary told me!"

"Mary, sure! Since when is Snape goldy locks?"

"Sev didn't tell me. He avoided talking about it!"

"So it worked!"

"What worked?" Lily demanded.

"Snape being all scared to talk to you! Ha ha! Bingo, Sirius!"

Lily stood up. "James. I have no intention of dating you for a while. I feel that I still need some thinking time. Besides, you still need to get another injection of maturity before we start dating again." And with that, she left.

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_**Poor them! James and Narcissa are both still single, Severus and Lily are wondering Hogsmeade, and Lucius is making sure that this stays in order with his wedding plans. Oh, and I said that he's the last one in this romantic battle? Well, we have two more candidates, but they're not fighting for love. They want their best friends to see sense! Yes, Avery and Mary are going to get together and come up with a scheme! I shall say no more . . .**_

_**What do you have to say?**_


	9. The Plot of the Best Friends

_**Hey everybody! Back with the next chapter! Here we go, Sev and Lily, Mary and Avery, gosh isn't this a mess!**_

_**Oh, and I found something pretty cool out. Did you know, that out of every other fanfiction topic, Harry Potter has the most stories written for it? Yeah! It has, as of yesterday, 470,574 stories written for it! Cool, huh? We're popular!**_

_**Anyway, enjoy this short, but schemy little baby!**_

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Snape walked angrily down the road. He wasn't angry at Narcissa, it wasn't her fault she liked him, but come on. She was engaged. She should control her hormones and focus on loving her fiance, not himself. He was a half-blood, not Narcissa Black material at all. And he had no interest in her! She was Sirius Black's cousin! Then again, Sirius Black's brother was interesting. Still, this was stupid, him and Narcissa. Nope. Never. That could never happen.

He stopped in front of a very small pub. Deciding that it was his only refuge, he slipped inside and sat down at the table in the corner.

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Lily walked angrily down the road. She wasn't angry at James, it wasn't his fault that he was immature, but come on. He was already 18. He should control his childishness and focus on being more grown-up, not some prankster. She was more like an adult, not James Potter material right now. And she had more friendly interest in him! He was just her friend! Then again, they had been dating. Still, this was stupid, her and James. No. Not right now. But it could happen.

She stopped in front of a very small pub. Deciding that it was her only refuge, she slipped inside and went to the table in the corner.

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"Hi, Sev." said Lily, walking up to his table. "Can I sit with you?"

Snape looked up. "Hi," he said. "Go ahead."

"Thanks," she said. She sat down. "Where's Narcissa?"

"Not here. Last I saw her was at the Hog's Head. I came alone."

"Really? Why? What happened?"

"She asked me out," he said quietly. Lily gaped.

"Oh my gosh! Why did you say no?"

"I don't fancy her. And she's engaged." Lily's happy gape turned into a contorted look of disgust.

"_What? _She's engaged and she's asking you out? How perverted! Her fiance should know of this!"

"I know. But Lucius Malfoy can be clueless. He thinks the woman run to him. Unfortunately, she was shoved towards him. It's pureblood tradition with the Blacks."

"But, what about Sirius?"

"He's disinherited, remember?"

"Oh yeah," she said. "Well, that's still messed up."

"Really. Where's Potter?"

"Oh, well, I'm alone too. He was being a bit of a brat. We're not dating-" She said to his anxious face. "- we're friends for now."

"Oh." he sighed. "This has been a terrible last Hogsmeade trip."

"Really." They said nothing. A waitress came up to them.

"Anything I can get you?" she asked. She had curly locks and had a nice Irish accent. Lily smiled at her.

"No thank you."

"What about you?" she asked Snape.

"A butterbeer, thank you." he said.

"Very well, I'll bring that for you in a few minutes." She walked back towards the counter.

"Didn't you have a drink?"

"Narcissa got me a firewhiskey." She nodded, knowing he disliked the drink.

They waited in silence. The waitress came with the drink and Snape paid her. As he drank, they started to talk again.

"You know what?" said Lily. "James had a problem with us being friends."

"Narcissa did too. I mean, what's the problem? We're just friends."

"Exactly. They think we're about to sleep together, mind you."

"That's what it sounds like," said Snape, finishing his drink. "Come on, let's go do something."

"Yeah," said Lily. The two left the bar,

But in the farthest corner of the bar, hiding in the shadows, were to others, huddled over a parchment and paper. "I'll tell you what's the problem, Severus Snape," said a female voice. "Lily Evans is my best friend, not yours. You go get some Slytherin hottie and she can marry Potter and be my best friend."

"Yep," said a male voice. "Piss off, Lily. Severus is my best friend. He can get a girl worth a billion of you. But he can't be your friend."

Mary looked at Avery. "This ends tomorrow. Graduation is next Saturday. We get Snape and Lily back to hating each other, we get Narcissa to stay with her own man, Potter to get with Lily, and hey, find Snape some Slytherin chick if you can."

"Then destiny will be right again."

"Exactly." said Mary. "Besides, their friendship will be history once Lily finds out he's a Death Eater."

"Yeah! Write that down, could you?" Mary scribbled it down. "So, after this, let's head over to the post office and send both Lily and Narcissa the same note."

"Here. I wrote a note sample. Tell me if you like it. _'Hey. Listen, I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. We men tend to be arses at times, we have to admit. But if you want to talk about it, meet me in the abandoned classroom on the fourth floor at twelve, after graduation practice. Hope to see you there.' _How is it?"

"Besides the arses part, it's fine." Mary rolled her eyes.

"I'll write one in the best imitation of James's handwriting and you do Snape's. Don't cut out the part you don't like, they have to be identical."

"Fine!" Avery whined. They wrote it down. When they were done, they sealed them and packed up their things and headed for the post office.

"Now remember, you have to get Snape to enter the classroom at the point when Narcissa and Lily are at the extreme point of fighting. Then he'll think Lily had a problem and started the fight and they'll be history. He'll be pissed at Narcissa, so that takes care of that. And we get him a girl. And hook Lily up with James."

"It's ideal. Don't worry, Curly, I've got a plan."

"Great, Creepy, I hope it works." They reached the post office and sent the letters out. As they left, Avery said:

"You know, we're a pretty good team."

"Yeah, I think we are." They high-fived each other.

"I can't wait for tomorrow," said Avery.

"I can't either." And in unison, they said:

"Things will be back to normal."

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_**Gasp! What will happen? Will their plan work? And can you believe that this will have to be messed up and resolved happily in two more chapters? Goodness me, I'm all shaken up! *Faints***_


	10. The Fight

_**I forgot about how fun this story is to write! Just two more chapters after this one & I'll have my first completed multi-chapter story!**_

_**This is exciting!**_

_**OK, so here we go. Avery and Mary have got a plan to wreck the entire Luicus-Severus-Lily-Narcissa-James fight. It's not too sturdy but if things go their way, they'll have things back to normal again!**_

_**For the last week of school, this is VERY exciting!**_

_**By the way, I have changed the rating of this story to T because of the verbal abuse in this fight. Hope it's suitable.**_

_**Dedicated to Alethea27. Thanks for being a very constant reviewer through out this whole story!**_

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Barely any of the Gryffindor and Slytherin seventh years came back from Hogsmeade in a good mood.

Narcissa angrily went and found some of her friends and started whining away to them, wrecking their time. James did the same, and a whole crowd of Gryffindor girls got terribly upset that neither he nor Sirius Black would pay any attention to them. Most of the girls that went to comfort Narcissa ditched their dates to go help her, so nearly every Slytherin boy was upset. And the latest news was that a whole bunch of those boys started a butterbeer fight with some Gryffindor boys in the Three Broomsticks. Some other Slytherin and Gryffindor girls came to watch and half the population of each house in their year ended up getting involved.

It seemed that everyone was upset. So upset, that they didn't realize Avery and Mary cheerfully returning to school, carrying butterbeers, candy, and a bag stuffed to the brim with wrinkled parchment.

That evening, Professors McGonagall, Slughorn, and Dumbledore decided to not give any detentions to the people involved in the fight for three reasons. One, they deserved at least a month's worth, which wasn't going to happen, since there was only a week left until term ended. Two, they wouldn't have time for it, since they had graduation practice very often now. And three, there were too many of them! So Dumbledore took off 100 points of each House and made them all go apologize to a very shaken and angry Madame Rosmerta who was cleaning her pub. When they went back to Hogsmeade, they rest of them ate their dinners in angry moods, at least three seats away from one another.

They were too busy stabbing their knives angrily into their steaks, their forks furiously into their salads, and their spoons pointlessly into their soups that they didn't notice Avery and Mary, sitting in a cozy corner at the Slytherin table, cute as could be, sharing a plate of spaghetti and writing something down.

Nearly all the seventh years in Gryffindor and Slytherin went to bed the second they arrived in their common rooms, glanced at curiously at the sixth years in their houses, who had been expecting a party until dawn.

They were all trying to go to sleep at seven o'clock that they didn't notice Avery and Mary sneaking off to the abandoned classroom on the fourth floor, preparing for the next day . . . .

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The next day the entirety of both houses felt refreshed and decided to start new. They all went to breakfast in cheery moods, sitting with each other again, laughing and gossiping.

"So I heard that yesterday, when the butterbeer fight was going on, Peter Pettigrew ran for cover at Madame Puddifoot's!" Narcissa exclaimed to her group of giggling girls. They started laughing hysterically.

"Mail's here!" some shouted. The still laughing girls looked up to see if any of the owls headed their ways. One did.

"I bet it's for me!" They all started shouting at each other, laughing hysterically and throwing galleons on the table. The owl landed in front of Narcissa and dropped a note on her plate. The other girls groaned and pushed the money towards her. She ignored them and opened the note:

_Hey. _

_ Listen, I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. We men tend to be arses at times, we have to admit. But if you want to talk about it, meet me in the abandoned classroom on the fourth floor at twelve, after graduation practice. _

_ Hope to see you there._

Narcissa looked up from her note. The girls nosily tried to see what it was, but she made sure they couldn't snatch it away. She looked over at Severus, who was sitting alone today. He looked at her and gave her a weak smile. She beamed. _It's from him! _she thought delighted. _he's going to meet me there! Today! Oh God, I got to get ready! _She grabbed her galleons and rushed back to her dormitory. _I'm so excited!_

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"I'm so excited!" Lily exclaimed to Mary and some of her other friends. "We graduate in a week! A week!"

"This is going to be so much fun!" said Mary. "Parties every night in our common rooms, Slughorn's having a 'Seventh Year Only: Slug Club Party' in his office on Wednesday too, you know! Who's your date going to be?"

"I'm going with Remus Lupin," exclaimed one girl, named Genesis Patricks.

"_Him?" _asked the only other girl in their group, named Miranda Kelly. "Why him?"

"He's the only one in their group I could get. It's not like Sirius Black would fall for me. Besides, Lupin beats Pettigrew.

"True." said Mary.

"Who are you going with, Mary?" asked Lily.

"Some Ravenclaw boy named Nate Walters or something. I met him yesterday and he asked me out. He's kinda cute. At least I have a date!"

"Good point," said Miranda.

"Who are you going with, Miranda?" asked Genesis.

"Regulus Black."

They all gasped.

"_HIM?" _asked Genesis

"He's not even a seventh year!" exclaimed Lily.

"And he's in Slytherin!" Mary yelled.

"Come on, so what if he's not a seventh year, Slughorn said we could bring younger students. Besides, Regulus is in the Slug Club. He's related to Sirius Black. He's the next best thing. And who cares if he's in Slytherin?" Then she grinned. "Who are you going with, Lily?"

"I don't know yet."

"It's sad how you don't know, but we do." said Genesis. "We all know you're going with Severus Snape."

"No, I'm not!"

"Come _on, _Lily!" said Miranda. "Yesterday, you ditched _James Potter_ for that _slimy loser_ and everyone saw you two walking around together. Besides, _everyone _who's _anyone _knows that Severus Snape has absolutely _loved _you since . . . well, forever."

"I guess I'm not anyone because I didn't know that," said Lily, feeling a bit angry. "He is not a slimy loser!"

"He is compared to the sexy, hot, amazingly talented James Potter," said Genesis. "And how have you not realized he loves you? He's always happy when he's with you, he visited you in the Hospital Wing everyday, he was all depressed when you wouldn't talk to him . . . come on, Lily. He just adores you. But you should ditch him again. He doesn't deserve your attention."

"True," said Mary. "Very true. Go for James. he wants you. He loves you. And you guys are meant to be. Everyone knows that. After school, you and James go to Auror training. You'll spend three years together, training for an amazing career. And that's ideal dating time. And what happens to Snape? He goes off somewhere and ruins his life and ends up a trouble-maker."

Lily stared at them. "I never said I fancied him. He's not my boyfriend. He's not even close. He's my friend. I'm not about to run away with him. I might just start James Potter again. And so what if he isn't going to be an Auror? He isn't about to throw his life away. He's probably getting some other career; With his grades, he should."

"He hasn't told you his future plans?" asked Mary. "Then talk to a Slytherin sometime. You'll find out."

"What is it? Tell me! Listen, guys, I-"

"Mail's here!" Genesis shouted. They watched the owls soar above screeching. A letter landed on Lily's plate. She picked it up and opened it. It read:

___Hey. _

_ Listen, I'm sorry about what happened yesterday. We men tend to be arses at times, we have to admit. But if you want to talk about it, meet me in the abandoned classroom on the fourth floor at twelve, after graduation practice. _

_ Hope to see you there._

She folded up the note and looked over at James. He looked at her and smiled brightly. She smiled back. "I have to go. I'll see you at ten, when we go to practice." And she ran out of the room.

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She ran out of the room, feeling excited. Narcissa's hair was done, her make-up was on and she was ready. She decided not to sit beside Snape at rehearsal or else it might ruin the amazing moment later. So she sat with Mulciber and some other Slytherins, while Snape sat with Avery.

"This is all bull," said Avery. "Practicing for one stupid ceremony. Why even have a ceremony?"

"Why not just kick us out and give us a few galleons like they want to?" asked Snape.

"I guess it's because they enjoy the formalities."

"I suppose." Snape leaned back. He smiled. "It would be a bit humorous if the Dark Lord called for us in the middle of the ceremony."

"But how would we go to him? We can't Apparate inside the grounds."

"We would run to the Forbidden Forest and go from there."

"Happy graduation."

"Indeed."

They continued to talk and watch and practice for the next hour and forty-five minutes. The entire group of seventh years nearly ran away from the practice area when practice was done. Especially Narcissa and Lily.

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Lily dashed for the eastern staircase and ran all the way up to the fourth floor. Today was the day. She was going to meet James and they would make up! This would prove to her friends that she didn't love Severus Snape.

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Severus Snape was there! In the abandoned classroom on the fourth floor. Narcissa ran all the way up the western staircase for the fourth floor. She ran towards the classroom. But . . . coming from the eastern staircase was someone else . . . running towards the classroom. But it wasn't Snape, she could tell by the silhouette. Who was it? She continued to run absent-mindedly . . . . until she crashed . . .

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She crashed with person running from the west. CRASH! They went to the floor. "OW!" The person shouted. "What the hell . . . who are you?"

"I'm Lily Evans," Lily replied, rubbing her forehead.

"_What?" _yelled Narcissa Black. "Well, then, I'm GLAD I crashed into you!"

"Why? What did I do? What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? I'll tell you what I'm doing here, Mudblood, if you tell me what you're doing here!"

"Shut up, you blood purity freak! I'm here to meet my man! What are you doing here?"

Narcissa bubbled up with anger. "He's MY man, firstly. And I'm here to meet him!"

"What are you talking about?" yelled Lily. "You hate him!"

"How on earth could I hate him? He's the most amazing person on earth!"

"OH MY GOD! You like him? That's insane! I mean, he's a pureblood, sure, but that doesn't make any sense!"

"You idiotic piece of shit, he's a half-blood!"

"You're the piece of shit for being here, when I'm supposed to meet my sweet heart!"

"I'm here to meet MY baby! I swear, Lily Evans, if you mess up this relationship-"

"You three timing bastard!" Lily yelled. "YOU'RE ENGAGED! Do you get it? NO relationships allowed! OK, go sleep with your husband!"

"He's my fiance, first of all, you stupid Mudblood! Secondly, what the hell do you mean, THREE TIMING?" I've got one love and a fiance and they are TWO different people. OK, GO TO PRESCHOOL AND LEARN HOW TO COUNT!"

"So you ditched your other love? How stupid, he'll be pleased-"

"There is no other love. Get out my life, you don't know anything!"

"I know plenty of stuff, Narcissa Black, OK? You're a dumb piece of SHIT and I don't want to have anything do with you!"

"You better watch it!"

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"Watch it! Come with me and watch it! It's like the fight of the century! Evans and Narcissa are in the abandoned classroom _screaming _at the top of their lungs! Go on and see! I heard them!"

Snape looked at him confused. "Why are they fighting?"

"I don't know."

"But Lily said she didn't care."

"Maybe she was lying," Avery suggested. Snape went over the west staircase and walked up. Avery looked at Mary, who stood at the corner and they winked at each other. "What a great plan . . ."

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"Great plan, Evans! You send me a note so you can come up here and fight for him, but you act all sweet? What kind of sickening plot is this?"

"OK, who the hell are you talking about?"

"SEVERUS SNAPE!"

"Well, I'm talking about James Potter. James wanted me to meet him here."

"Whatever! I don't care about that anymore. You want Snape. I know that. But he's mine!"

"He isn't yours! You're engaged!"

"That's not your business!"

"LISTEN TO ME! FOR ONE DAMN SECOND, JUST SHUT UP!" Narcissa fell silent. "Thank you!"

Snape listened from the top of the stairs.

"OK! I don't care about Snape! Not a single bit! He's just some kid I've known forever and like out of habit, OK! I would never go on a date with him, I would never do anything like that! He's just a nobody who I go along with. Go on, go have him. Love him. Snog him in front of me, I couldn't care less. I have James Potter, and he's going to be my boyfriend really soon. So maybe you should leave me alone, because if you think I'm the way of your relationship with Snape, then you're on the wrong page. I'm not keeping him from you. If he likes me better than you, good for him, but as if I'd ever like him back."

Narcissa stared at her with a surprised look on her face, then she smiled. "Would you say that to his face?

"Of course, I would."

"Then go right ahead, because he's right behind you." Lily's eyes widened and she turned around to look at a very hurt and very shocked Snape.

"These halls are very echoic," he said in a dangerously quiet tone.

"Severus, listen. How much did you hear?"

"Enough to know what you think of me."

"Severus, I didn't mean it! I was just angry at this stupid girl! She's being so mental!"

Snape pushed past Lily and looked at Narcissa. "I said we would be friends. You didn't seem to get the message. You don't have to get in everybody's face about it. I said no because Lucius is my friend and I don't like betraying my friends."

"Severus, forget Lucius-"

"No. You're engaged, Cissy. We can be friends. But not if you keep doing this."

Narcissa's eyes filled with tears and she ran away.

Snape turned to Lily. "I'm glad to know I was nothing more than a charity case to you. Thanks for telling me. I won't be in your way any longer." He started to walk away.

"SEV! Severus, wait!" But he kept walking. "Severus, listen, I didn't mean what I said! Narcissa was being all possessive of you and I had to pretend I didn't care! C'mon Severus, I'm sorry!"

Snape turned around. "I said something I didn't mean to you and you didn't forgive me. Why should I forgive you?" And he turned and walked down the hall, leaving her alone. She felt tears come to her eyes and she ran away.

Mary and Avery, who were watching from a distance, smiled at each other. "Great," said Mary. "Now all we have to do is comfort them individually."

"And get Potter and Evans back together." commented Avery.

"Exactly. Easy peasy. Poor Lily, when she saw Snape, her face went red!"

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Red never did look good on her. She looked at the light blue sleeveless dress. It would be much more suitable for a Slughorn party on a hot summer night. It was in his office, of course, but still, a furry red dress wasn't suitable. Besides, the red of the dress clashed terribly with her hair. Green or blue were much better. She put the dress on and did her hair and makeup. She had her hair in an elegant red bun and wore light blue high heeled sandals. She looked at herself in the mirror. Elegant. She looked good. She sighed and walked out of the room and down the Slughorn's office.

Lily didn't know how Severus had dealt with being hated for two whole years. It had been three days and she was as miserable as ever. She didn't want to eat. She didn't want to sleep. She didn't want to do anything. It was hell. She wished she hadn't said that. She honestly didn't mean it. All she wanted was Narcissa off her case. Now they were both gone. She sighed. Why did she say that? _Why?_

She entered Slughorn's office nervously. The music was playing and nearly every seventh year was there, with their dates, talking laughing. She had come alone. She didn't want to go with James. And Severus wouldn't talk to her. She decided to find him and apologize again. He had to be here.

"Lily!" the voice boomed. Lily turned around to see a happy and peppy Slughorn, holding a glass of wine in his right hand.

"Professor Slughorn!" she greeted cheerfully. She shook his hand.

"Goodness, don't you look very pretty!"

"Oh, Professor!" she said, trying to blush.

"Have you not brought someone?"

"No, I'm alone tonight. I feel I ought to mingle rather than stay with one person."

"Ah, Lily, who always did have an open mind!" Slughorn laughed. "Well, go on, do your mingling! I'll introduce you to some people later."

"Thank you, professor!" she said happily, turning away. She frowned. She wasn't in a very social mood. Sadly, she roamed over to the punch and spooned herself a cup. Sipping it leisurely, she skulked around, trying to avoid all eye contact and people alike. She roamed over to a corner and looked around. The room was very crowded. She could see everything. She saw her friends with their dates, some dancing, some talking, some laughing, some drinking, some eating. But in the farthest corner of the room, she saw Severus Snape. In his dressing robes. Looking around. She let her eyes wander, until their eyes locked. He stared at her. She stared at him. And he headed for the door.

"Oh damn!" she whispered, dumping her punch and following him.

"Lily," called Slughorn. "Where are you going? Surely you are not leaving, you have just arrived."

"Oh no, Professor, just getting some fresh air, you know?" she said, smiling.

"Well, I see. Well, don't take too long, I'd like to introduce you to some other potioneers!"

"That'd be lovely, sir," she said walking out of the room. When she was out of eye-shot, she took off her heels and ran down the halls, trying to find her friend. Where did he go? She searched and searched desperately. She needed to apologize. He needed to forgive her. And she him, for calling her a Mudblood. She needed to make things right.

After searching for about ten minutes, she leaned against the wall and put her shoes back on. Sighing, she decided not to return to the party and go outside.

Wandering outside into the darkness, Lily strolled alongside the walls. She was about to turn, when she saw him. He was leaning against the walls, all alone. He was always a loner. Taking a deep breath, Lily walked over to him. "Severus . . ." she said, calmly. He shot her a dirty look and started walking. She grabbed his wrist. He gave a terrible flinch at the physical contact and looked at her.

"What do you want?" he demanded.

"To apologize," she said softly.

"Don't waste your time."

"Please Sev, I'm sorry. I really am! Forgive me."

"No."

"I didn't mean what I said."

"I wonder how that feels. I have the whip this time."

"Well, I have one too. If it helps, I forgive you for what you said to me."

Snape gave her a shocked look. "You're kidding?"

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" she said seriously.

He looked a bit happy for a moment. "Thank you. But that doesn't mean I forgive you."

"Oh come on!"

"I said one word. You said an entire page of insults."

"You said it to a group of people. Only Narcissa heard what I said."

"You said to a complete gossip, that's nearly as bad. It doesn't matter anyway. What matters is that it hurt me. Terribly, Lily."

"Severus, I don't know how you lived 2 years like this. I might just die tomorrow." She looked at the ground. "I'm awfully sorry. I really am." Then she looked up. "Severus, after graduation, we might never see each other again. I'm becoming an Auror and you're going to do what Severus Snape's do. If you don't forgive me, you might die with a grudge."

"You're words don't soften me, woman!" he hissed.

"I think they do. You're just too proud to admit it."

"I have nothing to admit."

"Yes, you do. Plenty."

"Name some of them."

"I won't. You'll have to admit them yourself."

He sighed. "Not now. Some other time."

"Severus, there might not _be _another time for this."

He started to walk away again. Then he turned around. "Oh they're will be. You'll see." And he walked away.

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_**How exciting! Perhaps Avery and Mary should've remembered that Snape loves Lily before they tried to tear them apart! Three chapters in one day! Whoosh! I've decided that after the next chapter, there will be an epilogue. Next chapter, GRADUATION!**_

_**Reviews Rock!**_


	11. Graduation Day

_**Why not finish this story up, huh? I hope to finish this by today or tomorrow, because I have two parties this weekend, homework, back to school shopping, then vacation, then more homework, then school itself. And then forget it. It won't be finished for forever! And I must get going on these one-shots. Nine one-shots from here to September? It can be done!**_

_**So here we all go, Graduation Day! What's gonna happen? The pen pals shall be revealed! The writers shall be surprised. And we will be happy!**_

_**Dedicated to Princess Bia. Support is the key, girl. Thanks a billion!**_

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The hats flew into the air, like water spitting out of a large geyser. Eight different colors flew into the air. Red hats for Gryffindor boys, gold for the girls. Green hats for the Slytherin boys, silver for the girls. Blue for the Ravenclaw boys, bronze for the girls. And black for the Hufflepuff boys, yellow for the girls. Shouts came from the entire crowd of students. "SUMMER!" "WATCH OUT LIFE, HERE WE COME!" "GRADUATION!" "WE'RE OUT OF HOGWARTS!"

After a few minutes of laughing and shouting, Professor McGonagall shouted through the magic megaphone, "All right, the buffet is at the back-" The pointed to a table behind all the seats. "-and you may go eat. Gryffindors and Slytherins, come and get your pen pal meeting spot and meet your aquaintence promptly. Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, go and eat." There were more shouts and cheers. The bronze, blue, black and yellow figures rushed over to the food, laughing and cheering and throwing their hats again. The others walked over to McGonagall and got their spots.

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Snape looked over his paper. It read 'tree behind buffet table'. Snape looked up and saw a huge oak tree behind the buffet table. he walked over there and stood behind the tree, waiting for Lily to come. What would she say when she saw him? What would happen? Would she be angry at him for not telling her who her pen pal was? He sighed and leaned against the tree, picking invisible lilt off his green graduation robes. He heard the crunching of foot steps and in a few minutes, saw Lily Evans, wearing her metalic, golden robes. She gaped when she saw him and then threw her arms around him. He tightened uncomfortably. But she wouldn't let go.

"Oh, SEV!" she exclaimed. "We're graduates! Graduates! Can you believe it? We have our diplomas and everything! Oh, SEV! Just yesterday, you told me I was a witch. Remember that?"

"Good times," he said glumly.

She took her arms off him. "This is so exciting! It's just like how I told you it would be!" Then she tilted her head. "Except I didn't expect you to be my pen pal! Aren't you excited?"

"Oh, I already knew," he said casually.

"_What? _How?" Then she grinned. "The folder. You recognized your letters in my folder."

"Smart," he said.

"Well, that's just great! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Didn't feel like it," he said. He wasn't in a very talkative mood today.

"I hate you, sometimes!" she snapped, turning away. Then she turned around. "Oh, Severus, I am so, so sorry about what I said and I told you that I forgave you, so please forgive me even though I didn't for a very long time. You've been so good to me, even though I've been so terrible to you and I . . . I just want to be forgiven. I have no other explanation. You're my best friend, Severus, you really are."

Severus said nothing, but looked at the ground. He wanted to forgive her. But he felt he just couldn't.

"Hey, you guys!" came a voice. Snape and Lily looked up.

Mary McDonald and Avery came over to the two of them. Mary's arms were around Avery's neck and Avery's were around her waist. And they were smiling, all happy and lustful. Snape and Lily looked at each other and back at the two of them.

"So, you've made up?" asked Mary.

"No," said Snape. "She's just my pen pal, that's all."

"_Oh!" _said Avery. "Well, go on and make up! With you two always together, it leaves us for better things."

"Much better things!" exclaimed Mary. "Like this!" And they snogged each other. Snape and Lily looked in disgust. When they broke apart, Avery smiled.

"Now that we're graduated, me and Ol' McDonald here are going to go spend the summer in Cancun, Mexico!"

"_Why _in Cancun?" asked Lily, who was confused.

"Because everybody seems to like Cancun," Mary said simply. "Anyway, then I head off for Gringotts training and he does his thing, we meet up again, get married and don't you worry, Lily, we'll have a _great_ time in Cancun!"

"Oh, you curly-haired crazy!" Avery teased and Mary went into giggles. Snape looked at them in dismay.

"I thought you had a bloke for your pen pal," he said.

"Oh, we're not pen pals." said Mary. "He got James Potter. James went to throw up behind the stage when he found out, so I don't think you'll wanna go back there. Besides, there's a group of girls taking pictures of the . . . contents that were in his stomach. Anyway, so that's that!"

"What about you? Who'd you get?" asked Lily.

"Oh, well I got Mulciber. What an idiot. I wrote the word 'an' and he asked me what that meant!" She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, Avey-Ave here come over to us to show Mulciber who he got. And then we started snogging and . . . I love this day!"

"Come on, Miss Mary Quite Contrary, I think I hear music."

"OH, _Avery!" _she said and they ran off. Lily and Snape stared at each other, looked back at them running, and then said at the same time:

"Dorks." They looked at each other and smiled.

"What got into them?" asked Lily.

"No idea," he said. Then he looked down. "You know, the only reason I made him my 'best friend' was because you were gone."

Lily smiled. "Same with me and Mary. I'm glad they have each other to torture and snog."

"She snogged you?" he asked, disgusted.

"NO! What the hell, I'm just saying, they were both single-"

"Hey, Severus! Hi . . . Evans."

Narcissa and Lucius were walking up to them, hand in hand. "Guess who came to watch us graduate?" Narcissa squealed. Lucius beamed.

"Let me guess . . ." said Lily. Narcissa sneered at her.

"Oh, what do you know, Mudblood?" she snapped.

"Now, now, Cissy," said Lucius. Narcissa giggled.

"Oh, Lucius!" she said happily. "Now that I've seen him again-" she said to Severus. "-I'm kind of glad you turned me down. We can be friends, how's that?"

"And we'll be seeing each other quite often," said Lucius. "When you decide to move from your current home, there will be a room for you at Malfoy Manor when you're looking for a new home."

"Well, I . . . um . . thank you, Lucius. And of course, we can be friends."

"Glad you decided to take the right step in turning Narcissa down," said Lucius. "Must've been quite a challenge." Cissy blushed.

"Oh . . . yes, it was. Very difficult."

"But we've talked and it's all forgiven and sorted out!" said Narcissa. "What are you two doing behind a tree, anyways?"

"Pen pals," Lily muttered.

"Still?" Narcissa asked. "That ended ages ago! I got Sirius. Cousin . . . well, ex-cousin pen pals. How typical of the stupid professors!"

"We keep getting interrupted," Lily growled. "By couples."

"You better _step away _from her," Lucius whispered to Severus. "Unless, you can explain to _him _why-"

"No, no, she's just some girl, it's nothing, really, if you want, you could tell him, and I'd explain," Severus whispered hastily.

"Fine!" Cissy snapped. "Lucius and I are going to eat and then go home so I can pick out my expensive wedding dress! See you, Severus. See you not, Evans!" And they went off.

"How are you friends with them?" Lily demanded.

"They don't like Gryffindors, that's all. But they're very generous towards me."

"Oh, I see. But you'll make enough money at Gringotts."

"Gringotts?" asked Snape, feeling confused.

"Yes, remember, you told me that time we reintroduced ourselves that you wanted to work at Gringotts?"

"Oh, right, well, about that, I changed my mind. I'm going to wander for a bit, find my career a bit later. Move out, move in, that sort of stuff."

"Oh." said Lily. Then she pulled something out of her pocket. "I was going to send this to you, as a reply to your letter, but I didn't have time. Read it later. We need to talk now." He slipped it into his pocket and looked at her. "Severus, this is it. We won't ever see each other again, not really. Maybe in the neighborhood. But that'll be it. Forgive me. Please. I am as sorry as any soul can ever be sorry. Please, Severus, please. Saying yes will prove you're a much better person than I am."

"I'm not, no matter what I say. I'm not."

"How is that?" she asked.

"There are reasons. But that doesn't matter. You're better."

"Well, still, forgive me anyway! Please!" Snape looked at her, into her eyes. It happened too quickly.

The world around them began to disappear. The trees faded away from around them. The grass disappeared from beneath their feat, the sky from above their heads. The sounds of the cheers and laughs were gone. The scents of fresh air was gone too. All that was left was them. She slipped her hands around his waist. His hands fell into the thick red hair. And their lips touched. It was a moment where they felt like they were flying, like the warmth and the happiness overwhelmed them, like peace was all that existed. Her hope was so true and vibrant; He knew he needed it. He had been waiting for this moment forever. His heart was so open and willing; She knew he had always been like this. This moment was the key to the lock. It was a moment of discovery and hope and relief. All pain voided them. They continued to hold each other, embraced in the moment when everything seemed right. They didn't have any desire to go back into the world of anger and sorrow and troubles. They wanted to stay here, in their own heaven, and be happy together, forever.

But that could never be.

They started to slow down, the flame Passion was beginning to die. The scent of the open airs returned. The sky was over them again and the grass beneath. All the trees returned. And when the noises came back to fill their ears, they knew it was over. Her hands slipped away and his fell down. Their lips parted. They backed away from each other. She stared at him and him at her.

"That was very . . ." she began.

"Spur of the moment." he finished.

"Indeed," she agreed. "But it was wonderful. Magical." She smiled. "Remember that?"

He stared at her, in shock. "You knew? You . . . felt it?"

"Of course I did, it woke me up! I felt something touch me and it felt so good, even if it was quick. But I really liked it. And I knew it was you. And I hoped to feel it again someday."

"It could've been Madame Pomfrey," he said.

"There's a picture of her in one of the most ancient Hogwarts yearbooks and she had a boyfriend."

"Oh. Well, things change."

"She came in the room after I woke up. You were right there. It was you."

He sighed and looked away. "It was me. And I can't believe you liked it."

"It was nice. Not forceful. Passionate, yet gentle. It was perfect." She hugged him. "I'm really sorry. Do you forgive me?"

"I told you, your words couldn't soften me up." But he looked at her and smiled. "Unfortunately, the kiss did. I forgive you for what you said. But that doesn't mean I'm not still hurt about it."

"I understand. That's how I am about the incident in fifth year." She sighed. "I can't believe this is all over. School, I mean. It's the end."

"It's not the end, Lily. It's the beginning."

She beamed and smiled. "You're right. Finally, you say something positive!" She laughed.

"I must be ill," he said.

"Hey guys!" said Mary, who was passing by with Avery. "I heard McGonagall say that if we stay for a few more hours, when it gets dark, there's gonna be fireworks! You two staying?"

They looked at each other. "Sure," said Snape.

"Why not?" asked Lily.

"Great!" Mary exclaimed. "See you there!" And they walked off.

Lily saw James, who was looking very green, pass by to the buffet table.

"Hey, Severus, about me and James, does it bother you at all if we date again?"

"Bother me? Of course it does. It pisses me off. It always has."

"I know. But if I'm happy, do you mind?"

He sighed. "Not as much. But it pisses me off."

She hugged him again and this time, he tightened. When she let go, she said, "Listen, I should go talk to him. I want to fix all grudges and arguments today, before we're all done, you know? I'll see you during fireworks."

"Whatever," he said to her. "Bye."

"Bye," she said, smiling sadly and running off. He sighed and leaned against the tree. He pulled her final letter out of his pocket and read it:

_Dear Slytherin,_

_ Then I have an idea of who you are._

_ Well, Slytherin, this is probably my final letter to you. I may just have to deliver it to you personally. Please don't be someone who hates me, OK? I don't know about you, but writing letters to a Slytherin was definetely an odd experience. But it was fun, just trying to guess and all that. I doubt it solved the Slytherin/Gryffindor rivalry problem at all, but I bet there was a real reason for all this nonsense. I guess it wasn't nonsense then! _

_ I hope you enjoy whatever you decide to do with your life. I know I am! I hope that you'll have an amazing time after Hogwarts._

_ And who knows, these may have been life changing letters!_

_ - Gryffindor_

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_**GASP! Is that it? Is that the end of my first fic? Well, if you don't read epilogues it is! but if you do read them, it isn't. I shan't say my thank you's 'till the epilogue, so just read the author's notes there.**_

_**But how'd you like this part? I know, Snape was stupid for saying he forgave her, but that what makes it a story! Besides, you all know me and my thirst for love and romance!**_

_**So come and turn this pretty page over to see what happens after this awesome graduation party!**_


	12. Epilogue

_**I can't believe it.**_

_**This is it.**_

_**The final chapter of this story.**_

_**I won't be writing four stories anymore, I'll be writing three!**_

_**YEAH! This is exciting!**_

_**Well, really, it's bittersweet.**_

_**Before I begin the epilogue,**_

_**I must say thank you,**_

_**To everyone who read,**_

_**and reviewed.**_

_**Those who read and didn't review . . . **_

_**I can't include you, I don't know you. But I'm grateful!**_

_**But for those who did *grins* I most certainly can!**_

_**Thanks to:**_

_**IonicAmalgam;**____**Kath the Dreamer;**____**frodolove12; matrice;**____**Nymma;**____**Cassandra30;**____**Nudge999;**____**mrsProbie;**____**SundayRose01;**____**Rohain Tahquil;**____**SpencerReidFan89;**____**let's pretend xo;**____**Yashida;**____**Fayari;**____**phantasyphoenix;**____**TheMoonIsBlack;**____**NewProphecy;**____**Alethea27, Emilie Rose;**____**T'vanna;**__** and **__**Princess Bia.**_

_**Thank you all! I love you guys, even the ones who quit after a while. You guys are amazing and I loved reading your funny, crazy, wonderful, sweet, critical, and truthful reviews! They made this story what it is! And thanks to everyone who reviewed after this is updated! You all make me smile! **_

_**And here it is! The end of Life Changing Letters, the story that started one night because I was bored and has entertained so many! I hope you like this. This has been so much fun! Thanks for sticking with me!**_

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Severus pulled his second trunk out on the front steps. He sighed and looked up at the hot, noon sun above him. He had spent the entire morning packing his things. Not that he had much, only two large trunks and a small third one. But that didn't matter. Finally, he was leaving this dreadful place he called home for a while. He would be staying with Lucius for a while. His mother had moved away last year while he was at school and his father, if he kept his drinking and smoking habits like this, wasn't too far from death. Lucius agreed that Snape could stay with him until Spinner's End was his. Then Snape would move back in and settle down. But he didn't want his stuff to be destroyed, so he was taking it all with him to Malfoy Manor.

He felt a bit odd going, it was only a month after Lucius and Narcissa's wedding (which he had attended). He didn't like barging in on the new couple, so he offered to pay for his stay. Lucius wouldn't hear of it. So Severus decided to lie low while living there. It was his only option though. His father was sick of him and had kicked him out. The Dark Lord didn't want him there anyway. "If he doesn't die in a year's time," said the Dark Lord. "You can go and have the pleasure of killing him."

Snape sighed and went back inside and got his final bag. "Is that it?" his father demanded, wobbling into the sitting room. Snape raised a brow.

"Yes."

"Very well then, off with you! Don't be coming back here, I don't need you to trouble me! Don't ask me for money, 'cause I ain't got any for you, boy! So stay away, you hear?"

"No need to beg," he said briskly, walking out and shutting the door. He placed his bag outside and sat on the stoop. He was expected at Lucius's in fifteen minutes. He ought to give the couple a few more precious moments alone before barging in. So he decided to sit and wait.

Hadn't this summer gone by quickly? With Death Eater meetings, finding a part-time job, and moving out, there was no time to rest this summer. But he would be able to do that in the fall. There was no train coming for him on September 1st. Hogwarts was in his past now. He hated to admit it, but he still missed his school.

There was someone coming down the road, from the left. If you went down the road that way, you would leave this run down town and enter the good, clean, nice, rich people town. Well, they weren't exactly rich, they were middle-class. But still, they were richer than he was.

_"SEVERUS!"_

Lily ran up to his front proch and hugged him tightly. He tightened and she released him. "Oh, Severus, how are you?"

"I'm fine," he said. "And you?"

"I'm just great! I'm going to Auror training in a few days and I'm packing up now! What about you? Are you going somewhere?"

"Moving," he said. She nodded sadly.

"Well, that's sad. I thought maybe we would have seen each other more often around town, you know? But I guess we're just so busy . . ."

"I know, it's been rough. I'm moving in with Lucius for about a year, and then I'm moving back here. When the house is mine. When my father's dead.

"I see," Lily said. "Well, yes, after Auror training, I move out too. But I don't have to worry about that now." She smiled at him. "So, do you have any idea about what you're doing?"

"None whatsoever," he said quietly. Lily felt kind of bad for him already. All through their lives, somehow, she ended up getting the better things. When they were kids, she would get every toy or pair of jeans or cute sneakers she wanted. And he had to wear hand-me-downs and didn't really have any toys at all. Then at school, she was able to buy new, shiny supplies, but he had to get everything second-hand. And now look, it was happening again. She was going to Auror training for three years. And he was clinging to every resource he had and trying to find something to do with his life. And even if he wanted to become an Auror, he probably wouldn't have been able to afford three years of training.

__Then it hit her.

She realized that, she never, ever did anything about it. To help him.

That would end today.

"Severus," she said to him. He looked up.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Can you come home with me? Just for a few minutes? I need to give you something."

He looked a bit concerned. "I don't know if I can . . . I'm supposed to go to Malfoy Manor in ten minutes . . ."

"Oh, it won't take long! Here, look!" She took his three trunks and hid them under the front stairs. "Now come, I want to give you something!" She hurried down the street.

"Give me something?" he whispered to himself. He sighed and followed his friend down the road.

They reached her house in only a few minutes, for it was on the edge of the two towns. She pulled him up the front stairs and all the way to her room.

"It has to be in here _somewhere!" _she said to herself, exasperatedly looking through her stuff. Snape looked around the room. It had changed. Again. When she was nine and ten, the room was a pink haven. Then when she ten, eleven, and thirteen, it was purple. Then she changed it green for a while. But he hadn't been in this room for nearly two years. Now, it looked very much like the room of an adult. The walls were white, the bed sheets were navy. There was amber colored, wooden furniture and two lamps. There was a blue trunk at the end of her bed and desk with a chair against the wall. It was much more to his liking then the crazy purple lava lamps and pink bean bag seats has ever been.

Lily rummaged through the trunk at the end of her bed. "Lily, what exactly are you looking for?"

"I can't tell you. It's a . . . Yes! Here it is!" She pulled out a tiny key. Engraved on it was the number 217. And at the end of the key, where the ring was, a piece of paper with the number 1,000 was stuck on. "This is for you."

He looked it over. "What's it for? It looks to me like a Gringotts key."

"Do you have a vault?" she asked, putting things back into the trunk.

He stifled a laugh. "Even if I did, I wouldn't have more than two galleons to put in it."

"That's what this is for," she said happily. "Open a vault. Then give this key to the goblin and he'll put 1,000 galleons into your account!"

His eyes widened at the gold key. "_Really? _How? Why are you-?" Then she stopped and looked at the engraved number. "Lily, what number is your vault?"

"217. Why?"

"Lily, you're taking money out of _your _vault for me?" he demanded.

"Exactly."

"Lily, I can't take money from you!"

"You're not taking money from me. This is a gift. A graduation gift. Remember, you said you wouldn't get anything from your family. But everyone deserves a graduation present, especially you."

"But 1,000 galleons- That's a lot of money!"

"Severus Snape!" she shouted and he was silenced. "I will not let you return this key to me! It's yours and it'd do you good to go to Gringotts, open a vault, and fill it with 1,000 galleons from your best friend!" She looked very intimidating.

"I . . . I don't know what to say . . ."

"Thank you is easy enough." She reccomended,

He gave a tiny smile. "Very well, then. Thank you."

She smiled back. "You're welcome, Sev."

He sighed. "Well, I should get back. They're expecting me in only a few minutes."

"Right," she said. "OK. But I'll write to you."

"Yeah," he said. "That would be nice." In his Death Eater life, he needed the relief of someone like Lily. "Well, bye Lily."

She hugged him and tears welled in her eyes. "Oh, Severus, I'm never going to forget you. Never."

He didn't know what to say, so he returned her embrace and kept quiet. They seperated.

"I'll see you around," he said quietly.

"Right," she said, rubbing her eyes. "Right."

"Bye, Lily."

"Good-bye, Severus."

And he left the room

_Lily Evans, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin all attended the Auror Academy of Great Britain for three years. During their time at school, Lily and James started to date again. On Graduation Day, he proposed to her and of course, she accepted. They were married the following year. Lily became pregnant four months later with their son, Harry. She and James were murdered by Lord Voldemort in 1981._

_ Sirius Black and Remus Lupin continued their jobs as Aurors until 1981 when Sirius was arrested. Lupin continued to work there until 1987 when Dolores Umbridge had him fired on false accounts. He didn't get another well-paying job until 1993, when he worked at Hogwarts for one year. Sirius Black escaped from prison that year. Sirius was murdered by Bellatrix Lestrange in 1996. Remus then married Nymphadora Tonks in 1997. They were both murdered in the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998_

_ Severus Snape lived with Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy for a year, when Lord Voldemort assigned him the task of killing his own father. Snape obligied and soon moved back to his home on Spinner's End. He overheard the prophecy in 1981 and during that year, also became a spy for Albus Dumbledore and became the Potions Master that September. He worked in that position until 1996 when he was assigned to the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and in 1997, became the Headmaster. He was murdered by Lord Voldemort in May of 1998._

_ Narcissa and Lucius had a son named Draco a few months before Harry was born._

_ Mary McDonald and Avery dated for the next three years until Mary couldn't take his involvement with the Death Eaters much longer. Mary continued her work as a spell breaker, while Avery worked devotionally for Lord Voldemort. Avery was killed in the second war. Mary started dating a Squib named Marcus Roberts and they married three years after their first date. They moved from England to Austria where the worked as spell breakers there. They had no further involvement in the war. Lily did discover that Severus had been a Death Eater since the age of sixteen. She was surprised and disappointed in her friend. However, Dumbledore did inform her briefly of his turn from the Dark to the Light, so their friendship was not ruined. They saw each other once more after their meeting before Severus moved to Malfoy Manor at a battle between the Order and the Death Eaters. Snape saved Lily's life from the Killing Curse shot from Mulciber. Nobody besides the two of them ever found out about that moment. _

_ If Lily ever did confront Severus in the after life, she would have been proud and thankful. He helped keep her son alive. And who knew, perhaps their friendship would have never began again if it wasn't for those Life Changing Letters . . ._

_**The End**_

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_**Thank you all for your reviews and support. This story would not have survived without you. You guys are the foundation on which I built. Thank you so much for your support through-out this story! If you would like to review and tell me your thoughts on this story, I would be more than happy to reply to them. It's deeply appreciated.**_

_**Until we meet again,**_

_**His Lil' Half-Blood Princess**_


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